No consensus yet on ROHS, WEEE

The Council of Ministers has been discussing the European Commission (EC) proposals for the recast of the ROHS and WEEE directives since March 2009, but areas of disagreement still exist. Documents were recently published that highlight the current opinions of Member States.

The key ROHS issues remain around its scope. Four Member States, out of 27, still prefer that the scope comprise 10 categories, rather than the open scope with Category 11 covering “all EEE not in categories 1 to 10.”

Nine States prefer fixed installations to be excluded, 16 want them included, while others seek a clearer definition.

Most Member States agree with the EC proposal to restrict additional substances, although only two think that the ECHA should be involved in substance assessment. ECHA has no funding for ROHS, but if it is not involved the EC would need to finance and obtain the assistance of independent technical experts. This issue has clearly not been resolved.

The are many unresolved issues on exemptions, including the maximum four year validity period, and the process around the approval of exemption applications.

There are several areas of disagreement on the WEEE proposals.

Eleven Member States prefer that 10 categories of product remain within the scope of the WEEE directive, rather than moving them to the recast of the ROHS directive. Seven would prefer an open scope, while only five want fixed installations to be excluded.

Fourteen States say that the EC proposal for collection targets of 65% by 2016 is too ambitious and unrealistic. Several proposals have been made for alternative approaches.

Finally, the definition of Producer proposed by the EC has been rejected by all Member States. The EC proposals are for products placed on the EU market, so once the product is available in one State there is no need for further registration if it is subsequently sold in a different State. All States disagree with this approach and prefer the current national market definition.

With thanks to ERA Technology Ltd trading as Cobham Technical Services.