Study to support the review of the list of restricted substances and to assess a new exemption request under RoHS 2 (Pack 15). Final report

The key provisions of Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2) can be found in Article 4(1), requiring Member States to ensure that electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market, including cables and spare parts, does not contain the substances listed in Annex II (restricted substances) in excess of the specified maximum tolerated value in the homogeneous material. The directive annex initially listed the following substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Article 6 of RoHS 2 requires that the list of restricted substances in Annex II be reviewed periodically and stipulates rules for amending the list. A first review of the annex was performed in the course of two studies between 2012 and 2014, resulting in the addition of four phthalates to the annex (the restrictions entered into force as of 2019). Under Framework Contract no. ENV.A.2/FRA/2015/0008 of 27/03/2015, a consortium led by Oeko-Institut was requested by DG Environment of the European Commission to prepare a study to support the review of the list of restricted substances and to provide technical and scientific support for the evaluation of exemption requests under the RoHS 2 regime. The work was undertaken by Oeko-Institut together with the Fraunhofer Institute IZM. The work was requested with a view to providing technical and scientific support for the following tasks: - Part 1: Substance review: − Task 1: Update of the existing methodology to identify and assess substances for possible restriction; − Task 2: Assess substances with a view to their possible future restriction; − Task 3: Determination of the quantitative usage data for substances used in EEE; - Part 2: Exemption evaluation: − Task 4: Exemption methodology − Task 5: Exemption assessment - A horizontal task (task 6) was devoted to the consultation of stakeholders throughout the project.