Davy,
Can you please idenfy the reference to the January 1, 2008 statment in your
email.
My references to WEEE draft 4, article 4 do not indicate such information.
Here is what I found under article 4:
Brussels, 10.05.2000
4rd Draft Proposal for a EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DIRECTIVE ../.../EC
on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Article 4
requires certain measures aiming at the prevention of the generation of
WEEE, in particular the generation of hazardous waste. These measures
include provisions enhancing the recycling and other forms of recovery of
WEEE, thereby avoiding the generation of waste going to disposal operations.
Article 4.1
The most important steps to improve the waste management of electrical and
electronic equipment have to be taken in the design stage of the new
products. To this end, Member States shall encourage research aimed at
reducing the use of dangerous substances in electrical and electronic
equipment.
Article 4.2
In order to facilitate the identification of plastics three ISO standards
for the marking of plastic products shall be applied.
Article 4.3
To avoid diverging national standards for the design of electrical and
electronic equipment within the European Union the Commission should
promote, as appropriate, the preparation of European standards according to
Article 4.3.
Article 4.4
foresees the requirement to substitute the heavy metals - lead, mercury,
cadmium and hexavalent chromium - as well as the brominated substances -
PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers), including in particular 5-BDE, 8-BDE
and 10-BDE, and PBB (polybrominated biphenyls), as these substances are
causing significant environmental problems during the waste management
phase. Exemptions for applications where substitution is not feasible are
listed in Annex II. The inserts included in Annex II should be modified
according to technical and scientific progress by the Article 18 Committee
of Directive 75/442/EEC. The committee shall consult producers of electrical
and electronic equipment before taking decisions on further exemptions to
the substitution requirment.
-----Original Message-----
From: Davy, Gordon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 8:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [LF] Implementing lead-free before the (new) deadline
Ola Hassan stated recently in this forum that his company is "moving full
fledge ahead in implementing [lead-free] before the EEC date." That got me
thinking. The latest draft (4) of WEEE states (Article 4, p.45)
4.a) Member States shall ensure that the use of lead, mercury,
cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDEs is substituted by 1 January 2008
[instead of 2004 as in Draft 3].
That's a four-year reprieve. While this is still just a draft, it seems
unlikely that the deadline in any future draft will be sooner than 2008. In
fact, there seems to be more doubt than just a few months ago whether this
restriction on materials will be included at all in whatever European
environmental legislation affecting electronic products that does get
enacted. (Incidentally, the wording suggests that lead, etc. that is present
as an unintentional constituent is exempt. If so, that would answer some
questions I remember seeing on permissible levels.)
I wonder whether at least some of those OEMs that have been pursuing
lead-free (and halogen-free) products primarily to avoid being shut out of
the European market (rather than because they believe that it will by itself
increase their market share, or because they believe it will aid recycling,
or because they believe it will save lives) will now scale back on (or
postpone) their efforts, and if so, whether any of them will say so
publicly. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Gordon Davy
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