Amendments in RoHS and WEEE Directives (3rd Dec 08)

[Ajit Basrur]

As per European Commission , there is an amendment for WEEE and RoHS (2008/34/EC and 2008/35/EC resp.) and says -

The proposed revised RoHS directive would cover medical devices and monitoring and control instruments. A list of "priority" substances posing particular environmental concerns when used in electrical and electronic equipment will be assessed in line with REACH with a view of a possible ban in the future. Complying with the requirements of the directive will also be made easier with the introduction of the CE label for electrical and electronic equipment.

The proposed revised WEEE directive sets a new binding target for the collection of electrical and electronic equipment. The current collection target of 4 kg per person per year does not properly reflect the situation in individual Member States. Some Member States where the consumption of electrical and electronic equipment is widespread would have more ambitious targets under the new directive while others with smaller markets will have less ambitious targets. The Commission proposes to differentiate the targets by setting mandatory collection targets equal to 65% of the average weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the two previous years in each Member State. The recycling and recovery targets of such equipment now include the re-use of whole appliances, and weight-base targets will increase by 5%. It is also proposed to set targets for the recovery of medical devices.

Refer
WEEE Proposal

ROHS Proposal

[enventure]

Here is some more info on the changes in ROHS and WEEE

The European Commission (Directorate General Environment) posted the proposed changes to both the RoHS and WEEE directives on 3 Dec 08. Some of the significant proposed changes that may impact your company are:


RoHS

• Changes in the legal text to clarify scope and definitions
• CE marking of products with EC Declaration of Conformity
• Inclusion of medical devices and control and monitoring instruments within the scope of RoHS, in a staged manner
• The list of banned substances is not changed, however 4 substances are identified for priority assessment in view of a possible future inclusion in the list of banned substances

WEEE

• Harmonize the registration and reporting obligations for producers
• To transfer certain annexes on the scope of the current WEEE Directive to the RoHS Directive
• To harmonize producer financing across the EU. Some Member States already make producers fully financially responsible for the whole of the WEEE collection
• Clarification on which appliances are excluded from the scope of the directive

No timetable has been defined for the stakeholder consultation process, at this time. Furthermore, this revision is separate from the review of existing exemptions (although some changes to the mechanics of the exemption process are included). =====================================================