Negotiations are in place over the future of the EU’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive – which will impact the handling of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The Directive which has been in force since 2003 requires manufacturers of electrical goods to substitute potentially hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium, for safer alternatives within their products.

There are now on going discussions on whether the resale of some used electrical items and spare parts, which may contain hazardous substances, should be exempt from some of the requirements of the Directive which are due to come into effect from 2019.

Items which are likely to be affected are to include medical devices and monitoring and control equipment – which had not been covered by the scope of the legislation, until changes in 2011. The RoHS Directive further states that the sale of non-compliant electrical goods both first hand and via secondary markets, such as reuse outlets, will be prohibited after 22 July 2019.

Further amendments to the Directive have been proposed to exempt the resale of used electrical and electronic equipment and spare parts that contain hazardous substances beyond this 2019 deadline.

A statement was released from the Council of Ministers where he stated: “The proposed directive aims at revising the scope of the Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2). The new proposal specifically addresses problems arising from the “open-source” product group, includes amendments aiming at establishing equal treatment of products covered by the Directive and proposes to exclude a particular product, namely pipe organs. The main objective of the amending text is to ensure the possibility of secondary market operations (e.g. reselling, second-hand market) for electrical and electronic equipment that were newly covered by RoHS 2 and the use of spare parts for such equipment if they are put on the market before 22 July 2019.