Directive Decoder

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Directive Decoder

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has launched a public consultation

on its draft recommendation for eight Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) to be included in the Authorisation List (Annex XIV).

Substances in Annex XIV will require (costly) authorisation to be used after an implementation, or "sunset date".

The use of an SVHC after this date will be illegal unless the use has been authorised.

According to provisional plans put forward by Belgium, the European Union Presidency, the vote on both the RoHS and WEEE recast will be at a meeting of environment ministers on 14 October.

Directive Decoder

The Council of Ministers working group has continued to discuss the scope of the RoHS recast, substance restrictions and exemptions. The European Parliament Environment Committee (ENVI) has also had extensive discussions led by Member of the European Parliament and rapporteur Gill Evans. ENVI has also discussed scope, exclusions and substance restrictions but has also considered many of the definitions.

Japan does not have any RoHS style substance restrictions at present but, as with China RoHS, it does having certain marking requirements.

Often referred to as J-Moss (Japan Ministerial Ordinances) the product scope tends to be based around volume consumer and business electronics:

·        Personal computers (includes CRT and LCD)

·        Certain types of air conditioners

·        Televisions

·        Microwave ovens

·        Clothes driers

·        Refrigerators

·        Washing machines

·        Copying machines

The substances and maximum concentration values are the same as EU-RoHS.

Currently the only requirements are to provide a marking on the product and a product composition table. This requirement entered into force on 1 July 2006, the same day as EU-RoHS.

The European Council of Ministers has published the text of an EU regulation setting out the labelling requirements that display the charge capacity of automotive and rechargeable batteries.

A reduction in waste quantities could be obtained by increasing the average life-span of rechargeable batteries as would choosing the appropriate battery for an appliance.

Capacity labelling information would ensure fair competition among manufacturers. The capacity label would provide useful, easy to understand, comparable information for end-users when purchasing portable and automotive batteries and accumulators.