Mühlviertler Elektronik
Franz Glaser Austria Vorderweißenbach
Beschränkung der Verwendung bestimmter gefährlicher Stoffe in elektrischen und elektronischen Geräten.
RoHS
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Directives 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment are designed to tackle the fast increasing waste stream of electrical and electronic equipment and complements European Union measures on landfill and incineration of waste. Increased recycling of electrical and electronic equipment will limit the total quantity of waste going to final disposal. Producers will be responsible for taking back and recycling electrical and electronic equipment. This will provide incentives to design electrical and electronic equipment in an environmentally more efficient way, which takes waste management aspects fully into account. Consumers will be able to return their equipment free of charge. In order to prevent the generation of hazardous waste, Directive 2002/95/EC requires the substitution of various heavy metals (lead, mecury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) and brominated flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)) in new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market from
1 July 2006
.
Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 27 January 2003
on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard ...
(3) The Commission Communication of 30 July 1996 on the review of the Community strategy for waste management stresses the need to reduce the content of hazardous substances in waste and points out the potential benefits of Community-wide rules limiting the presence of such substances in products and in production processes.
(4) The Council Resolution of 25 January 1988 on a Community action programme to combat environmental pollution by cadmium(5) invites the Commission to pursue without delay the development of specific measures for such a programme. Human health also has to be protected and an overall strategy that in particular restricts the use of cadmium and stimulates research into substitutes should therefore be implemented. The Resolution stresses that the use of cadmium should be limited to cases where suitable and safer alternatives do not exist.
(5) The available evidence indicates that measures on the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) as set out in Directive 2002/96/EC of 27 January 2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on waste electrical and electronic equipment(6) are necessary to reduce the waste management problems linked to the heavy metals concerned and the flame retardants concerned. In spite of those measures, however, significant parts of WEEE will continue to be found in the current disposal routes. Even if WEEE were collected separately and submitted to recycling processes, its content of mercury, cadmium, lead, chromium VI, PBB and PBDE would be likely to pose risks to health or the environment.
(6) Taking into account technical and economic feasibility, the most effective way of ensuring the significant reduction of risks to health and the environment relating to those substances which can achieve the chosen level of protection in the Community is the substitution of those substances in electrical and electronic equipment by safe or safer materials. Restricting the use of these hazardous substances is likely to enhance the possibilities and economic profitability of recycling of WEEE and decrease the negative health impact on workers in recycling plants.
(7) The substances covered by this Directive are scientifically well researched and evaluated and have been subject to different measures both at Community and at national level.
(8) The measures provided for in this Directive take into account existing international guidelines and recommendations and are based on an assessment of available scientific and technical information. The measures are necessary to achieve the chosen level of protection of human and animal health and the environment, having regard to the risks which the absence of measures would be likely to create in the Community. The measures should be kept under review and, if necessary, adjusted to take account of available technical and scientific information.
(9) This Directive should apply without prejudice to Community legislation on safety and health requirements and specific Community waste management legislation, in particular Council Directive 91/157/EEC of 18 March 1991 on batteries and accumulators containing certain dangerous substances(7).
(10) The technical development of electrical and electronic equipment without heavy metals, PBDE and PBB should be taken into account. As soon as scientific evidence is available and taking into account the precautionary principle, the prohibition of other hazardous substances and their substitution by more environmentally friendly alternatives which ensure at least the same level of protection of consumers should be examined.
(11) Exemptions from the substitution requirement should be permitted if substitution is not possible from the scientific and technical point of view or if the negative environmental or health impacts caused by substitution are likely to outweigh the human and environmental benefits of the substitution. Substitution of the hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment should also be carried out in a way so as to be compatible with the health and safety of users of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE).
(12) As product reuse, refurbishment and extension of lifetime are beneficial, spare parts need to be available.
(13) The adaptation to scientific and technical progress of the exemptions from the requirements concerning phasing out and prohibition of hazardous substances should be effected by the Commission under a committee procedure.
(14) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(8),
HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
Article 1
Objectives
The purpose of this Directive is to approximate the laws of the Member States on the restrictions of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and to contribute to the protection of human health and the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Article 2
Scope
1. Without prejudice to Article 6, this directive shall apply to electrical and electronic equipment falling under the categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 10 set out in Annex IA to Directive No 2002/96/EC (WEEE) and to electric light bulbs, and luminaires in households.
2. This Directive shall apply without prejudice to Community legislation on safety and health requirements and specific Community waste management legislation.
3. This Directive does not apply to spare parts for the repair, or to the reuse, of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market before 1 July 2006.
Article 3
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive, the following definitions shall apply:
(a) "electrical and electronic equipment" or "EEE" means equipment which is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and fields falling under the categories set out in Annex IA to Directive 2002/96/EC (WEEE) and designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1000 volts for alternating current and 1500 volts for direct current;
(b) "producer" means any person who, irrespective of the selling technique used, including by means of distance communication according to Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts(9):
(i) manufactures and sells electrical and electronic equipment under his own brand;
(ii) resells under his own brand equipment produced by other suppliers, a reseller not being regarded as the "producer" if the brand of the producer appears on the equipment, as provided for in subpoint (i); or
(iii) imports or exports electrical and electronic equipment on a professional basis into a Member State.
Whoever exclusively provides financing under or pursuant to any finance agreement shall not be deemed a "producer" unless he also acts as a producer within the meaning of subpoints (i) to (iii).