• EU Directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS)
  
  
  
• EU Directive amending for the 24th time Council Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations
  
  
• EU Directive establishing the list of priority substances in the field of water policy
  
  
• EU Directive amending for the 4th time Council Directive 76/769/EEC relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations

EU Directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS)

What is the WEEE Directive ?

The Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) aims to increase the recycling and recovery of WEEE through mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling and energy recovery. The Directive requires separation of most of E&E Equipment from unsorted waste in Europe. This E&E waste is then collected, recycled and re-used under the financial responsibility of manufacturers. The WEEE Directive is currently under review and it is believed that the European Commission will present its proposal of the revised Directive in autumn 2008.

Which are the collection, recovery and recycling targets of the WEEE Directive?

Since December 31 2006, the Directive has required a separation of at least 4 kg of WEEE per inhabitant per year from usual waste streams. Out of this collected WEEE, manufacturers of “IT & Telecommunication equipment" (computers, fax machine, telephones, copiers, printers) and "consumer equipment" (TVs, radios) have to:

• recover (i.e. recycling plus energy recovery) a minimum of 75% by an average weight per appliance
• re-use and recycle a minimum of 65% of components, materials and substances by average weight per appliance.

What is the impact of the WEEE Directive for BFRs?

The Directive’s requirement to increase mechanical recycling is an advantage for plastics containing BFRs as they offer high level of stability during the recycling process. Annex II of the WEEE Directive requires “selective treatment of plastics containing BFRs”. BSEF believes that this requirement can be fulfilled when such plastic waste is treated (recovered, recycled, thermally disposed) together with other plastic waste. Indeed, several studies demonstrate that the most commonly used plastics containing BFRs in electrical and electronic equipment are fully compatible with integrated waste management systems such as feedstock and mechanical recycling and energy recovery. Removal before treatment of plastics containing BFRs from other plastic wastes has no added benefit in terms of environment or health protection in 2006. An EU working group drafted a guidance document to advise Member States on how to deal with the implementation of Annex II of the WEEE Directive as regards selective treatment of certain wastes and components.

 

What is the RoHS Directive ?

RoHS stands for Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment. This European Directive aims the use of some substances deemed to be hazardous in the electrical and electronic equipment (E&E).

Which BFRs are banned in the RoHS Directive?

The EU Directive to restrict hazardous substances from E&E, bans PBBs, Penta-BDE, and Octa-BDE, from the production of new E&E equipment. The RoHS Directive reflects existing industry practice as well as already implemented European legislation. Indeed, industry voluntarily ceased production of PBBs in 2000. Also, Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE have been banned for use in the European Union since August 2004 and are not produced globally since end 2004.
Deca-BDE
Deca-BDE was exempted from the RoHS Directive on 15 October 2005. This Decision was taken by the European Commission on the basis of the conclusions of a European Union 10-year environmental and human health risk assessment, and of a voluntary emissions reduction programme established by Deca-BDE manufacturing and user industries (Click here for the official Decision).

The European Commission also took into consideration the contributions from a stakeholder consultation in July 2004, where a significant majority of responses (85%) were in favor of exempting Deca-BDE (please see DG Environment website).
However, in January 2006, the European Parliament and Denmark both launched legal procedures against the European Commission regarding the exemption of Deca-BDE from the RoHS Directive. On 1 April 2008 the European Court of Justice annuled the Commission Decision on the exemption of Deca BDE on the basis of procedural errors made when establishing the exemption. The effect of the European Court of Justice ruling is that Deca-BDE can no longer be used in electronics and electrical applications from 1 July 2008.
The European Commission will have to evaluate now, how to resolved the resulting contradiction between the RoHS Directive and the positive EU’s risk assessment on Deca-BDE which concluded that ther is no significant risk for the environment or human health and that therefore no additional risk reduction measures were necessary beyond those already being applied.
BSEF firmly believes that there is no basis whatsoever for the EU restricting Deca-BDE under the RoHS Directive. For that reason, Deca-BDE should be either exempted or deleted from the scope of the RoHS Directive.

Revision of the RoHS Directive

In the framework of the simplification of community law programme, the European Commission is currently reviewing the RoHS Directive. The Öko-Institute has been contracted by the Commission to assess the extent of such review, which could , among other actions, extend the scope of the Directive to new product categories and make additions to the list of restricted substances. For more information please visit the website of DG Environment.
It is expected that a proposal on the revised RoHS Directive will be presented by the European Commission to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in the autumn 2008.

 

When did the ban come into force ?

The Directive proposal on RoHS phasing-out PBBs, Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE from the production of new E&E applications, started on 1st July 2006. Individual EU Member States were not able to adopt earlier bans nor were they allowed to adopt isolated bans of other substances. However, another EU Directive banned the flame retardants, Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE, in all products from the European market since 15 August 2004.
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Directive on WEEE
Directive on RoHS

 

Industry press releases

- EBFRIP press release on the European Commission Decision to exempt Deca-BDE from the RoHS Directive, 17 October 2005
- EBFRIP statement on the European Parliament vote of a resolution on Deca-BDE and RoHS Directive, 6 July 2005
- BSEF open letter to EU Environment Ministers on RoHS Directive and Deca-BDE, 22 June 2005
- EBFRIP press release “Deca-BDE Exemption from EU RoHS Directive awaits Council Approval”, 20 April 2005
- EBFRIP press release on the European Commission proposal to exempt Deca-BDE from the RoHS Directive, 31 March 2005