The European Commission has published a Stakeholder Consultation as part of the current review of the RoHS Directive which may lead to wide ranging enlargement of the scope of RoHS, changes in interpretation and processes. ERA strongly urges industry to take part in this consultation.

The European Commission has published a Stakeholder Consultation as part of its current review of the RoHS Directive. The consultation asks for comments on various options and covers most aspects of the review although there is no mention of the review of exemptions listed in the RoHS Annex that is currently in progress.

Main issues addressed by the consultation
The approach taken by the consultation is to present options on a each issue with comments, both for and against, from the previous stakeholder consultation to reflect the range of opinions. The main aspects addressed by the consultation are:

	Product groups to be included This question largely focuses on categories 8 (medical) and 9 (monitoring and control) which were the subject of the study carried out by ERA. Eight options are suggested from not including these categories to inclusion, probably by 2012, with or without exemptions.
	Substances restricted Options on the table range from not adding additional substances, adding substances with exemptions to adding substances at a deferred date but with no exemptions. Further options are to relate restrictions to waste treatment and to label but without substance restrictions (as is presently the case with “China RoHS”).
	Interpretational and technical changes Ten issues are described ranging from scope issues, such as the inclusion of fixed installations, and clarification of various aspects that are currently unclear such as whether Article 2.1 of WEEE (equipment which is part of another type of equipment which his out of scope is itself out of scope) applies to RoHS as has been assumed by the EC and many, but not all, Member States.
	Definitions Seven issues are described including placing on the market, a new definition for economic operators (“producer”) and updating the products listed in Annex IB to clarify grey areas.
	Facilitating implementation Enforcement and the mechanisms for exemptions are described with nine options for each. These are very varied and include the use of a conformity assessment procedure and international standards for demonstrating compliance. For exemptions, options range from not permitting more exemptions but reducing the scope, allow exemptions only for new technologies and new products, requiring the applicant to bear the cost of requesting exemptions, and requiring the applicant to provide detailed evidence, studies and evaluation to prove that exemptions are justified. Other options include changing the criteria for permitting exemptions.

Timetable and industry response
Submissions to this stakeholder consultation are required by the 13 February 2008. This is an important review because any amendments could have serious consequences for the electronics industry, potentially as big as the RoHS Directive itself had in 2006. Worryingly, our discussions with many manufacturers indicate that they will not respond to the consultation assuming that this can be left to large multinationals. This would be unwise as the views of the latter will not necessarily represent those of most smaller manufacturers who, in many ways, are less able to make changes in order to comply. We would strongly urge all interested parties to engage in the consultation.

The information gathering stage of the RoHS review should be complete in early 2008 (Öko’s final reports are due mid 2008) after which an impact assessment would be carried out to determine the costs and benefits of each of the main options. The EC states that proposals to revise the Directive could be submitted before the end of 2008.

Where next?
You can respond direct to the EC by sending your input to ENV-ROHS-DIRECTIVE-REVIEW@ec.europa.eu. If you would like support in formulating your response ERA has vast experience in this area and we would be pleased to assist. Please contact us on +44 (0)1372 367444 or email.