Directive Decoder

In a couple of months time the media will be full of "RoHS A Year On" features.
Thought I would get in first, well, it is nearly April after all!!
During the coming weeks I will share the significant developments, or lack of, with you.
Most EU member states are only just beginning to carry out market surveillance, although NWML has been carrying out enforcement activities for some time. They claim that 95% of products are not 100% RoHS compliant. Most have just a few components which donot comply with rework using tin/lead solder a common cause of non-compliance.
Scope within the EU is still unclear with differing opinions on offer. For example, Holland
assumes that car radio's, if bought by consumers, will be within the scope of RoHS, not ELV, unlike the UK and most other Member States. Fixed installations are another area of disagreement. Cable is still unclear also, with NWML suggesting that they might be household appliances based on the dictionary definition of "appliance" which could be almost anything whereas "household appliance" implies a much narrower range of products.
I understand that the DTI still disagree's with the European Commission on cables, so watch this space.

What's your experience of the first nine months or so, please drop me a line.

Directive Decoder