2006/310/EC: Commission Decision of  21 April 2006  amending, for the purposes of adapting to the technical progress, the Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards exemptions for applications of lead  (notified under document number C(2006) 1622)   (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2006-04-21
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: dangerous substance, derogation from EU law, lead, lighting equipment, marketing

L 115/38

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

28.4.2006

COMMISSION

COMMISSION DECISION

of 21 April 2006

amending,
2002/95/EC of

for the purposes of adapting to the technical progress,
the Council as

the European Parliament and of

the Annex to Directive
for
regards exemptions

applications of lead

(notified under document number C(2006) 1622)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2006/310/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

equipment, given that the use of those substances in such
applications will become avoidable.

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

(5)

Having regard to 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 substances in elec-
trical and electronic equipment (1), and in particular Article
5(1)(b) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

Under Directive 2002/95/EC the Commission is required
to evaluate certain hazardous
substances prohibited
pursuant to Article 4(1) of that Directive.

Certain materials and components containing lead should
be exempted from the prohibition, since the use of these
hazardous substances in those specific materials and
components is still unavoidable.

Certain materials and components containing lead should
be exempted from the prohibition, since the negative
environmental, health and/or consumer safety impacts
caused by substitution are likely to outweigh the envi-
ronmental, health and/or
safety benefits
thereof.

consumer

Some exemptions
from the prohibition for certain
specific materials or components should be limited in
their scope, in order to achieve a gradual phase-out of
electronic
hazardous

substances

electrical

and

in

Pursuant to Article 5(1)(c) of Directive 2002/95/EC each
exemption listed in the Annex must be subject to a
review at least every four years or four years after an
item is added to the list with the aim of considering
deletion of materials and components of electrical and
electronic equipment if their elimination or substitution
via design changes or materials and components which
do not require any of the materials or substances referred
to in Article 4(1) of that Directive is technically or scien-
tifically possible, provided that
the negative environ-
mental, health and/or consumer safety impacts caused
by substitution do not outweigh the possible environ-
mental, health and/or consumer safety benefits thereof.

Directive 2002/95/EC should therefore be amended
accordingly.

Pursuant
to Article 5(2) of Directive 2002/95/EC the
Commission has consulted producers of electrical and
treatment operators,
electronic
recyclers,
and
employee
environmental
consumers associations.

organisations

equipment,

and

in this Decision are in
The measures provided for
accordance with the opinion of the Committee estab-
lished by Article 18 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC (2),

(6)

(7)

(8)

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC is amended as set out in
the Annex to this Decision.

(1) OJ L 37, 13.2.2003, p. 19. Directive as

last amended by
Commission Decision 2005/747/EC (OJ L 280, 25.10.2005, p. 18).

(2) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975, p. 39. Directive as last amended by Regulation
(EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council
(OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

28.4.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 115/39

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Article 2

Done at Brussels, 21 April 2006.

For the Commission

Stavros DIMAS
Member of the Commission

ANNEX

In the Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC the following points 16 to 20 are added:

‘16. Lead in linear incandescent lamps with silicate coated tubes.

17. Lead halide as radiant agent in High Intensity Discharge (HID)

lamps used for professional reprography

applications.

18. Lead as activator in the fluorescent powder (1 % lead by weight or less) of discharge lamps when used as sun
tanning lamps containing phosphors such as BSP (BaSi2O5:Pb) as well as when used as speciality lamps for
diazo-printing reprography, lithography, insect traps, photochemical and curing processes containing phosphors
such as SMS ((Sr,Ba)2MgSi2O7:Pb).

19. Lead with PbBiSn-Hg and PbInSn-Hg in specific compositions as main amalgam and with PbSn-Hg as auxiliary

amalgam in very compact Energy Saving Lamps (ESL).

20. Lead oxide in glass used for bonding front and rear substrates of flat fluorescent lamps used for Liquid Crystal

Displays (LCD).’