on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2011/65/EU on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Directive 2011/65/EU on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment

1. INTRODUCTION

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 (the RoHS Directive) lays down rules on the restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) with a view of contributing to the protection of human health and the environment, including the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste EEE.

Article 4 of the RoHS Directive obliges Member States to ensure that EEE placed on the market does not contain the substances listed in Annex II. Annexes III and IV list applications exempted from that restriction.

The Directive empowers the Commission to adopt delegated acts with regard to three different provisions, in view of:

·the specification of detailed rules for complying with maximum concentration values by weight in homogeneous materials as specified in Annex II of the Directive, provided for in RoHS Article 4(2);

·the adaptation of Annexes III and IV to scientific and technical progress, both for inclusion and deletion of exemptions from the restriction provided in Article 4(1), provided for in the RoHS Directive Article 5(1);

·the review and amendment of the list of restricted substances in Annex II, provided for in Article 6(3).

2. LEGAL BASIS

The present report is required under Article 20(1) of the RoHS Directive. Pursuant to this provision, the power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission for a period of five years from 21 July 2011 and the Commission is required to draw up a report in respect of delegated powers, at the latest 6 months before the end of the five year period. The delegation of power shall be automatically extended for periods of an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the Council revokes it in accordance with Article 21. The previous report on the exercise of the delegation of power conferred on the Commission with regard to Directive 2011/65/EU was adopted by the Commission on 18 April 2016. The Commission invited the European Parliament and the Council to take note of that report.

3. EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION

The exercise of the delegated power was necessary during the reporting period with respect to several provisions foreseen by the Directive, as follows:

3.1. Rules for complying with maximum concentration values, Article 4(2)

Regarding the specifications of detailed rules for complying with maximum concentration values by weight in homogeneous materials as specified in RoHS Annex II, since the previous report, there has been no change in the situation as regards the necessity to adopt a delegated act to provide for those rules in accordance with Article 4(2).

3.2. Exemptions from the substance restrictions provided for in Article 4(1), under Article 5(1)

During the period covered by this report, the Commission received 102 applications, for the adaptation of the Directive's Annexes III and IV to scientific and technical progress regarding exemptions from the substance restriction in accordance with RoHS Article 5, 50 of which were submitted between November 2019 and January 2020 and 26 in January 2021. Following the required scientific and technical assessment of these applications, the Commission adopted 32 individual delegated directives to amend Annexes III and IV with regard to exemptions from the substance restrictions. The Commission is currently preparing a further 19 delegated acts and is carrying out the evaluation of 57 exemption applications which may lead to further delegated acts.