WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/247 
10 February 2009  
 (09-0621) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:  EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  European Commission 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above :   
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
  
 
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:   
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   
Electrical and electronic equipment (large hous ehold appliances, sma ll household appliances, 
IT and telecommunications equipm ent, consumer equipment, lighting equipment, electrical 
and electronic tools with the exce ption of large-scale stationary industrial tools, toys, leisure 
and sports equipment, medica l devices and relate d equipment, monitoring and control 
instruments including industrial monitoring and c ontrol instruments, auto matic dispensers).  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   
Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of  the Council on the restriction of 
the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) 
(Recast) (COM(2008) 809 fina l) (36 pages in English, French and Spanish).  
6. Description of content:   
The proposed Directive recasts the already existing Directive 2002/95/EC.  G/TBT/N/EEC/247 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:   
The objectives of the proposal are a clearer Directive that is simpler in its operation, improved 
enforcement at national level, adaptation to te chnical and scie ntific progress and coherence 
with other pieces of Community legislation.  
The Commission's proposal maintains key elements  of the existing Directive such as the list 
of banned substances (no substances added or removed) and the possibility to grant 
exemptions for certain applications of these substances.  
The proposal introduces the following main changes:  
- Clarification of scope and definitions, in particular by creating a binding list of 
products defining the scope of the RoHS Directive; 
-  Introduction of relevant provisions already used in the EU: “Marketing of products” 
package of legislation concerning, in pa rticular, national market surveillance 
activities and mechanisms for assess ing the conformity of the product; 
-  Adaptation of the procedure for exempti ons, for instance by introducing additional 
socio-economic criteria for granting an exemption and a requirement for applicants to 
analyse the substitutes before submitting a request, as well as a maximum validity 
period of 4 years; 
-  Inclusion in a staged manner in the sc ope of RoHS of medical devices and control 
and monitoring instruments;  
-  Establishment of a clear mechanism for identifying and if necessary restricting the 
use of additional hazardous s ubstances which exploits all possible synergies with the 
EU chemicals legislation and of a list of hazardous substances to be examined with 
priority via this mechanism. 
 
8. Relevant documents:    
Impact assessment study and summary available at: 
 http://ec.europa.eu/environmen t/waste/weee/p df/sec_2008_2930_ia.pdf
 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ waste/weee/pdf/sec_2008_2931_ia_sum.pdf  
 Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliame nt and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on 
the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in  electrical and electronic 
equipment as amended.   
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=OJ :L:2003:037:0019:0023:EN:PDF
 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    No adoption date is available yet.  
 
Proposed entry into force date: 20th day following the Directive's publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. 
10. Final date for comments:  90 days from date of Notification.  G/TBT/N/EEC/247 
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  11. Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or addre ss, telephone and fax numbers, 
e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:    
European Commission 
EC-TBT Enquiry Point Fax:  + (32) 2 299 80 43 
E-mail:  ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu 
 The text is available on the EC-TBT Website:    http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
 
 
and at:  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0809:FIN:EN:PDF
 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0809:FIN:FR:PDF  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/L exUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0809:FIN:ES:PDF  
 and:  http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2009/tbt/EEC/09_0424_00_e.pdf