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
Date: 2016-04-18
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: European Commission, delegated legislation, electrical equipment, electronic equipment, electronic waste, hazardous waste, market supervision, marketing standard, toxic substance, transfer of competence

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   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 18.4.2016  COM(2016) 215 final   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  
 
 
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 equipment1 
(the RoHS Directive) lays down rules on the restriction of the use of hazardous substances in 
electrical  and  electronic  equipment  (EEE)  with  a  view  to  contributing  to  the  protection  of 
human  health  and  the  environment,  including  the  environmentally  sound  recovery  and 
disposal of waste EEE. 

RoHS  Directive  Annex  II  lists  restricted  substances;  RoHS  Directive  Annex  III  and  IV  list 
applications exempted from the restriction provided in the Directive's Article 4(1). 

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,  as 
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), as 
provided for in the RoHS Directive Article 5(1); 
the  review  and  amendment  of  the  list  of  restricted  substances  in  its  Annex  II,  as 
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 prepare 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. 

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.  

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

1 OJ L 174, 1.7.2011, p. 88 

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Work  for  the  specifications  of  detailed  rules  for  complying  with  maximum  concentration 
values by weight in homogeneous materials as specified in RoHS Annex II has started, but 
developments are still ongoing. Therefore, the Commission has not yet adopted a delegated 
act to provide for those rules in accordance with RoHS article 4(2). 

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

During the period covered by this report, the Commission received around 140 applications 
for the adaptation of the Directive's Annexes III and IV to scientific and technical progress in 
accordance with RoHS Article 5. Following a thorough scientific and technical assessment of 
each  application  in  line  with  the  requirements  of  Article  5,  the  Commission  adopted  29 
individual delegated directives to amend exemptions from the restriction under Article 4(1) in 
Annex III and IV of the Directive. The Commission is currently carrying out the evaluation 
of 98 applications. 

Neither  the  European  Parliament  nor  the  Council  objected  to  28  Commission  delegated 
directives within the period provided for in Article 22 of the RoHS Directive. On the expiry 
of  the  scrutiny  period,  each  delegated  act  was  published  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European  Union2  and  entered  into  force  on  the  date  therein  specified.  One  Commission 
delegated  directive  was  however  recently  objected3  by  the  European  Parliament  in 

2 Commission Delegated Directive 2012/50/EU of 10 October 2012, OJ L 348, 18.12.2012, p. 16 
Commission Delegated Directive 2012/51/EU of 10 October 2012, OJ L 348, 18.12.2012, p. 18 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/1/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 45 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/2/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 47 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/3/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 49 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/4/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 51 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/5/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 53 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/6/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 55 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/7/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 57 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/8/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 59 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/9/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 61 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/10/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 63 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/11/EU of 18 October 2013 OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 65 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/12/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 67 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/13/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 69 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/14/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 71 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/15/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 73 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/16/EU of 18 October 2013, OJ L 4, 9.1.2014, p. 75 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/69/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 72 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/70/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 74 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/71/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 76 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/72/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 78 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/73/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 80 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/74/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 82 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/75/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 84 
Commission Delegated Directive 2014/76/EU of 13 March 2014, OJ L 148, 20.5.2014, p. 86 
Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/573 of 30 January 2015, OJ L 94, 10.4.2015, p. 4 
Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/574 of 30 January 2015, OJ L 94, 10.4.2015, p. 6 
3 European Parliament resolution of 20 May 2015 on the Commission delegated directive of 30 January 2015 
amending, for the purposes of adapting to technical progress, Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU of the 

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accordance with RoHS Article 22. As a consequence, the still pending applications concerned 
are  currently  being  re-evaluated  by  the  Commission,  to  take  into  account  recent 
developments in the availability of alternatives to the substance-use in question. 

3.3. Amendment of the list of restricted substances, Article 6(3) 

The Commission evaluated the substances of highest priority as referred to in the Recital 10 
of  the  RoHS  Directive.  Following  a  thorough  scientific  and  technical  assessment  of  the 
substances  concerned,  including  similar  substances,  the  Commission  adopted  a  delegated 
directive  in  accordance  with  Article  6,  thus  restricting  4  additional  substances,  namely 
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), 
Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). Neither the European Parliament nor the Council objected to the 
Commission  delegated  directive  within  the  period  provided  for  in Article 22  of  the  RoHS 
Directive. Consequently, the delegated directive was published in the Official Journal of the 
European Union4 and entered into force on the date therein specified. 

3.4. General considerations related to the exercise of delegated powers under the RoHS 
Directive 

For the preparation and adoption of each delegated directive concerning either the evaluation 
of an application for exemptions or of a new substance restriction, a number of steps have to 
be carried out to comply with the requirements of the Directive and the Commission's Better 
regulation  principles.  These  include  in  particular:  the  scientific  and  technical  assessment 
outsourced to an external consultant, extensive stakeholder consultations, the consultation of 
the Member States' Expert Group convened for the preparation of Delegated Acts pursuant to 
the RoHS Directive, the two-month notification to the WTO committee on technical barriers 
to trade, as well as the European Parliament and Council two-month scrutiny period. 

While  no  specific  deadline  is  provided  for  the  adoption  of  delegated  acts  concerning 
applications  for  new  exemptions,  the  Commission  is  required  to  take  a  decision  on 
applications for renewal of existing exemptions within 12 months after the submission of the 
application,  unless  specific  circumstances  justify  other  deadlines  (Article  5(5)).  Complying 
with this deadline has been challenging. In fact, the need to follow the procedural steps listed 
in  the  previous  paragraph  means  that,  in  practice,  it  is  not  possible  for  the  Commission  to 
adopt a delegated act within 12 months. The Commission will therefore consider including in 
its upcoming legislative proposal on the RoHS scope review an extension of the deadline for 
the adoption of delegated acts concerning the renewal of existing exemptions. 

4. CONCLUSION 

Over  the  past  five  years,  the  Commission  has  exercised  properly  the  delegated  powers 
conferred  to  it  under  Directive  2011/65/EU.  It  invites  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council to take note of this report. 

European Parliament and of the Council as regards an exemption for cadmium in illumination and display 
lighting applications (C(2015)00383 – 2015/2542(DEA)) 
4 Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/863 of 31 March 2015, OJ L 137, 4.6.2015, p. 10 

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