Requirements from Legislation

Requirements from RoHS

• RoHS: Prohibition of six materials, i.e. limitation for Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr(VI), PBB, PBDE until a maximum concentration limit of 0.1% (0.01% for Cd) in homogeneous material is required

• RoHS: permissions for lead in lead glass, in high-temperature applications, as alloy in steel, aluminum, copper; lead solder in servers and network IT, in ceramics are regulated in the Annex of directive ánd in following amendmends.

• RoHS compliance declares a wider spectrum than only a lead-free status.

Requirements from WEEE

• Reporting of recycling quotes

• Foresight: Different recycling paths will be available and will be adjusted with different recovery rates

• WEEE defines ten categories of products, generally from the consumer market, and quotas for a high level recycling are declared for each category

• Old devices: devices that are produced before WEEE was introduced. There is no information at all about the content. These devices mostly contain lead.

• Old-old devices: historical devices produced and sold before 2006-08-13. These devices may contain lead-solder.

• This means, only the consumer-electronic are defined in WEEE, from which only eight classes out of ten are defined in RoHS. As well the limiting in products in the ten classes as the limiting regarding the list of the six prohibited elements or substances are under review of the Technical advisory committee (TAC) of the EU Commission and may be changed in the next years (other product, other materials, more or less exclusions).

• Annex IV get a symbol with a crossed-out wheeled bin for the marking of electrical and electronic equipment indicating separate collection.

EUP - legislation developed this time in Europe

Actually discussed is the first draft of a Framework Directive for setting eco-design requirements for energy-using products (EuP). There will not be obligation s for all energy-using products, but only for those meeting criteria such as important environmental impact and volume of trade in the internal market and clear potential for improvement. The global goal is the eco-design for electronic products, requiring in cases a full material declaration.


AUTHOR: Dr. Irina Stobbe, TU Berlin, Germany (11/2004)

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