At Kay Nimmo's suggestion, I went to the European Leadfree website. It is required to become a member to enter. After I did this (it's free), I did a search on "RoHS" and found 57 articles. I had hoped to find more about progress of EU member states in implementing the enabling legislation, but didn't. 

I did find two entries I thought interesting, which were links to articles on other web sites, along with a brief synopsis. I present excerpts from these articles below and follow with questions.

Excerpt of a press release dated 13 August 2004 from the official European Union's web site, http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1033 <http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/04/1033&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en> &format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en.

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "We are buying and then throwing away more and more electric and electronic products. They pose real problems in the municipal waste stream because they are often made up of hazardous materials. The two new directives will put an end to this - but only once they are transposed into national law. I am disappointed that 24 Member States have missed today's deadline and urge them to speed up the legislative process. We need to act quickly to stop the damage that electric waste is creating."

Only Greece has met the deadline for transposing the Directives into their national legislation. Most other Member States are currently adopting legislation. Once the Member States have sent their legislation to the Commission, it will check it for compliance and, if necessary, take further action. The Commission can open infringement procedures against Member States that do not meet transposition deadlines. 

Excerpt from an article in Electronic News, December 16, 2004, http://www.reed-electronics.com/electronicnews/article/CA488297.html?industryid=21372.


According to internal studies conducted by EMS provider Solectron Corp., 38 percent of its suppliers are not expected to be compliant with lead-free regulations on time. The deadline for compliance with the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations is July 1, 2006. Problem is, companies are currently designing products that will be sold after the RoHS deadline. So component suppliers that are not already producing products that are free of lead, mercury and four other hazardous materials may miss the boat on getting their parts included in new product designs... "Our customers are aware of the lead-free situation, but they're busy competing with Dell. It's not their core competence," Art Morgan, senior manager, technical marketing at Solectron, said.

Questions: 

Ms. Wallström, what is the damage that electric waste is creating, and why do the member state legislators - other than the Greeks - not share your dismay? 
Why is it necessary to threaten them for failure to act, when it is supposedly in their own best interests to act? 
Will all twenty-five member states have their enabling legislation in place in time for producers to know what they have to do to verify compliance? 
Since the real losers from lack of enabling legislation are the producers, why are they not clamoring for responsible legislative behavior? 
Will the enforcement authorities in the twenty-four EU member nations that missed their 13 August 2004 deadline be lenient with producers who miss their 1 July 2006 deadline? 
How will producers that are ready by the deadline respond to enforcement laxity towards their competitors who are not?
 
Gordon Davy 
Baltimore, MD 
[log in to unmask]
410-993-7399 
 

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