Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2022/280 of 13 December 2021 amending, for the purposes of adapting to scientific and technical progress, Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards an exemption for the use of mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 24 February 2022
• Date of Signature: 13 December 2021
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 043, 24 February 2022
• Subject Matter: Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland,Environment

24.2.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 43/44

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COMMISSION DELEGATED DIRECTIVE (EU) 2022/280

of 13 December 2021

amending, for the purposes of adapting to scientific and technical progress, Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards an exemption for the use of mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2011 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (1), and in particular Article 5(1), point (a), thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Directive 2011/65/EU requires Member States to ensure that electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market does not contain the hazardous substances listed in Annex II to that Directive. That restriction does not apply to certain exempted applications listed in Annex III to that Directive.

(2) The categories of electrical and electronic equipment to which Directive 2011/65/EU applies are listed in Annex I to that Directive.

(3) Mercury is a restricted substance listed in Annex II to Directive 2011/65/EU.

(4) By Decision 2010/571/EU (2), the Commission granted, among other things, an exemption for the use of mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps (‘the exemption’), which is now listed as exemption 4(a) in Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU. The exemption was to expire on 21 July 2016, in accordance with Article 5(2), second subparagraph, point (a), of that Directive.

(5) Mercury is used in low pressure discharge lamps to produce ultraviolet light used for ultraviolet germicidal or bacterial disinfection and/or purification of air, water and surfaces.

(6) On 19 December 2014 and 15 January 2015, the Commission received two applications for renewal of the exemption (‘the renewal application’), that is within the time laid down in Article 5(5) of Directive 2011/65/EU, of which one was updated with a renewed application on 20 January 2020. In accordance with Article 5(5) of Directive 2011/65/EU, the exemption remains valid until a decision on the renewal application has been taken.

(7) The evaluation of the renewal application, which took into account the availability of substitutes and the socioeconomic impact of substitution, concluded that the elimination of mercury in the applications concerned or its substitution by a substance of comparable performance is currently technically impracticable. That evaluation further concluded that the current scope of the exemption can be limited to low pressure discharge lamps that are not phosphor-coated and emit light in the ultraviolet range. The evaluation included

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