Preface

Impact assessment of introduction of a general scope of the RoHS Directive – selected aspects

In the European Union, certain hazardous chemicals in electric and electronic equipment (EEE) are restricted by the Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment, the RoHS Directive (hereafter referred to as “the current RoHS Directive”). In December 2008 the European Commission made a proposal for a recast of the current directive (hereafter “the Commission’s proposal”). The recast was made on the basis of previous experience with the current RoHS Directive and its function.

In their proposal (COM(2008) 809 final), the Commission has introduced a binding and exhaustive list of equipment which defines the scope of the Directive. The list is based on the list of product groups in Annex IA and IB of the current WEEE Directive.

The Commission's proposal is currently (2009) negotiated in the Council Working Party on Environment (WPE). During the negotiations Member States have expressed desire to change the description of the scope, going from the proposed binding list to a general definition of EEE.

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has contracted with COWI A/S to supplement the existing assessment with the present assessment of changing the scope from the proposed binding list to a general definition of EEE.

The objectives of the study are:

To identify groups of EEE not included in the binding list of the Commission’s proposal;
For selected groups of EEE, to assess particular difficulties bringing the EEE in compliance with RoHS;
For the selected groups of EEE, to assess the potential reduced use of the substances restricted in the current RoHS Directive.
For the selected EEE groups, to assess the socioeconomic impacts.

Due to the limited time available for the study, the assessment has primarily been based on existing literature.

The study has been guided by a Steering Group consisting of Dorte Lerche Bjerregård, Lissie Jørgensen and Anette Ejersted, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, and Carsten Lassen and Jakob Maag, COWI A/S.

This report was prepared by Carsten Lassen (Project Manager), Jakob Maag and Ulla Kristine Brandt COWI A/S, Denmark. Legal backstopping was done by Helle Husum, COWI. The study was conducted during a period from August to October 2009.