The new RoHS directive was announced on 1 July 2011 in the Official Journal of the European Union. The new "Directive 2011/65/EU of 8 June 2011 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment" replaces the previous directive 2002/95/EG. EU member states are required to implement the new directive as part of their national law by 2 January 2013.
The most important changes are as follows:
Article 2: Scope
The exemption from the WEEE directive that was applicable to the categories of devices listed in Annex I, No. 8 "Medical devices" and No. 9 "Monitoring and control instruments including industrial monitoring and control instruments" has been lifted. In addition, equipment category No. 11 "Other EEE not covered by any of the categories above" has been expanded. The new RoHS directive thus applies to all electrical and electronic equipment as defined in Article 3. The only exceptions are those electrical and electronic devices expressly named in Article 2, paragraph 4.
As a result of paragraph 4, the following devices in particular do not fall under the new RoHS directive (cf. following explanation of terms):
• large-scale stationary industrial tools and large-scale fixed installations;
• means of transport for persons or goods, excluding electric two-wheel vehicles which are not type-approved;
• non-road mobile machinery made available exclusively for professional use;
• photovoltaic panels intended to be used in a system that is designed, assembled and installed by professionals
• equipment specifically designed solely for the purposes of research and development and only made available on a business-to-business basis.
Article 3: Definitions
Article 3 contains more terms and is more detailed than in the older version.
• Electrical and electronic devices are defined in a similar way to the previous version; however, the definition of "dependent" as used in Definition 1 has changed. It is now clear that a device is considered an electrical or electronic device when at least one intended function requires an electric current or electromagnetic field.
• The definitions of "large-scale stationary industrial tools" and "large-scale fixed installations" now make reference to professionals.
• "Mobile machinery" applies only to equipment "with an on-board power source," not equipment with batteries or power cables.
• "Placing on the market" is defined as "making available on the EU market for the first time."
• Connection and extension cables now fall expressly under RoHS.
• For the first time, the directive explains that the maximum concentration values refer to "homogeneous material."
Prohibited substances and equipment classes
The prohibited substances and maximum values have been retained. For the equipment newly included in the directive, different effective dates apply:
22 July 2014 for medical devices and for monitoring and control instruments
22 July 2016 for in vitro diagnostic medical devices
22 July 2017 for industrial monitoring and control instruments
22 July 2019 for the new category No. 11
Exemptions to prohibitions on the use of hazardous substances and applicable dates
Annex III contains the exemption provisions. There are currently 39 applications listed. Applications 18a, 19, 20, 26, 27 and 36 have already expired for new equipment, but are still valid for spare parts for older equipment.
Annex IV lists the 20 current exemption provisions for the newly affected categories No. 8 (medical devices) and No. 9 (monitoring and control instruments).
Annex V describes the procedure for granting, renewing and revoking exemptions.
Conformity assessment and CE marking
Articles 7 to 18 describe for the first time the obligations of manufacturers, authorised representatives, importers and distributors.
