. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/EEC/238 
24 December 2008  
 (08-6308) 
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 web-site 
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):  Electric and electronic 
equipment as defined under Articl e 3(a) of Directive 2002/95/EC. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Draft Commission 
Decision amending, for the purposes of adapting to  technical progress, the Annex to Directive 
2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the exemption for an application of lead as impur ity in RIG Faraday rotators us ed for fibre optic communication 
systems (4 pages, in English).     
6. Description of content:  This draft Commission Decision ai ms to review exemption No 22 
"Lead as impurity in RIG (rare earth iron garn et) Faraday rotators used for fibre optic 
communication systems" in the Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC.  
Having carried out the requisite technical and scientific assessment the Commission considers 
that RIG (rare earth iron garnet) Faraday ro tators which meet the maximum concentration 
values set by Directive 2002/95/EC are currently  available and that the exemption granted in 
this regard should be reviewed. 
However, producers must be given sufficient time to qualify Directive 2002/95/EC compliant 
materials or components following the qualifi cation procedures in place throughout the 
supply chain to ensure quality and reliability and to  prove this to their customers, if necessary. 
Therefore this exemption will be maintained until 31 December 2009. G/TBT/N/EEC/238 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
This draft decision aims to ad apt Directive 2002/95/EC to tec hnical and scientific progress. 
Such an adaptation is necessary, amongst ot hers, when the criteria for maintaining an 
exemption from the substance ban in Articl e 4(1) of Directive 2002/95/EC are no longer 
fulfilled and thus the elimination or substituti on of a substance in a certain application has 
become technically and sc ientifically practicable.  
8. Relevant documents:   Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of  certain hazardous subs tances in electrical 
and electronic equipment, OJEU L 37 of 13 February 2003, p. 19. 
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Le xUriServ/LexUriServ.do?ur i=OJ:L:2003:037:0019:0023:EN:PDF   
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }End of February 2009  
10. Final date for comments:  60 days from date of notification 
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 here