EU legislation restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and promoting the collection and recycling of such equipment has been in force since February 2003. The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge.
The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires certain hazardous substances heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.
RoHS directive overview
| EU RoHS (2002/95/EC) | RoHS2(2011/65/EU) | RoHS2(2011/65/EU) with amendment (EU)2015/863 | |
| Enforce date | 1 July 2006 | 2 Jan. 2013 | 22 July 2019 |
| Covered product categories | Categories 1 to 7 and 10 | All EEEs | All EEEs |
| Exclusions | Spare parts for the repair, or to the reuse, of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market before the enforced date. | Spare parts for the repair, or to the reuse, of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market before the enforced date. | Spare parts for the repair, or to the reuse, of electrical and electronic equipment put on the market before the enforced date. |
| Restricted substances | Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr6+, PBB, PBDE | Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr6+, PBB, PBDE | Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr6+, PBB, PBDE DEHP, DBP, BBP, DIBP |
| Declaration of Conformity | Self-Declaration | CE marking, DoC and Technical documents are required. | CE marking, DoC and Technical documents should be covered for DEHP,DBP,BBP,DIBP |
RoHS specifies maximum levels for the following 10 restricted substances. The first six applied to the original RoHS while the last four were added in directive 2015/863
- Lead (Pb): < 1000 ppm
- Mercury (Hg): < 1000 ppm
- Cadmium (Cd): < 100 ppm
- Hexavalent Chromium: (Cr VI) < 1000 ppm
- Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB): < 1000 ppm
- Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE): < 1000 ppm
- Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP): < 1000 ppm
- Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP): < 1000 ppm
- Dibutyl phthalate (DBP): < 1000 ppm
- Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP): < 1000 ppm
For more detailed Information or other related resources, news and developments, please visit http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_eee/