Directive Decoder

The Energy Using Products Directive (EuP) aims to improve the environmental performance of products throughout their life-cycle.
Mini directives known as “Implementing Measures” will follow a series of studies lead by the European Commission.
Products will have to meet power consumption guidelines and most manufacturers will have to carry out lifecycle assessments on their products so as to determine the potential environmental impact.
This will include the energy used to extract the raw material, produce, transport, sell, use and dispose of its products.

If REACH Policy Reform is something you have heard about, but as it is all about chemicals has no impact on your company, then it maybe time to think again.

Here I look at a couple of frequently asked questions and try and explain who, and how, could be affected:

Q1: What does REACH mean for your company?
A: You are affected if you:
 Manufacture or import chemical substances or mixtures of chemical substances (preparations such as paint, adhesives etc)
 Produce or import articles such as electronic components, sub-assemblies, toys etc, which contain substances to be included in a list of “substances of very high concern” (notification required if >0.1% by weight and >1 tonne per annum) or which are intentionally released or release is reasonably foreseeable (eg ink or perfume) during their use, or during recycling (registration required if >1 tonne per annum).
 Process chemicals or you formulate preparations for end use (for example cleaning products, paints or motor oils) or you use these formulated products professionally. In this case you are a “downstream user”

I was thinking about the number of products that are touched by the various directives.
Here are a few examples that might be supplied by your electronic component distributor.

RoHS
External hard drives, memory cards, bluetooth adapters, digital cameras, keyboards, IT cables, mouse, printers, Ethernet switches, routers. PCI cards, calculators, clocks, laser pointer, spinning levitation globe (electrical toy), telephones, headphones, 2-way radios, modem adaptors, electric grinders, electric drills, soldering irons, vacuum cleaners, battery chargers (may be regarded as tools), torch, etc.

WEEE
All of above (covered by RoHS) plus:
Line tester, PAT tester, digital voltmeter, cable detector, laboratory power supplies (some RoHS authorities may regard these as tools and so in scope of RoHS but this is unclear), oscilloscopes, multimeters, temperature meters and thermocouples.