Eurofins | Newsflash - March 2019 | Electrical & Electronics

Europe

New Amendments for RoHS

On 5^th February 2019, the European Commission has published the following amendments to Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS) as below, regarding exemptions for lead and cadmium.

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Approaching date for phthalates restriction under RoHS 2

From 22^nd July 2019,  Directive (EU) 2015/863 amending Annex II to RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU regarding the restriction of four phthalates will be effective.

After this date the following restricted substances shall not be allowed in electrical and electronic equipment:

Note: The restriction of DEHP, BBP and DBP shall not apply to toys which are already subject to the restriction of DEHP, BBP and DBP through Entry 51 of Annex XVII to REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006.

Other important remarks:

• The restriction of DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP shall apply to medical devices, including in vitromedical devices, and monitoring and control instruments, including industrial monitoring and control instruments, from 22 July 2021

The restriction of DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP shall not apply to cables or spare parts for the repair, the reuse, the updating of functionalities or upgrading of capacity of EEE placed on the market before 22 July 2019, and of medical devices, including in vitro medical devices, and monitoring and control instruments, including industrial monitoring and control instruments, placed on the market before 22 July 2021.

New format for registration of producers of electrical and electronic equipment

On 20^th February 2019, the European Commission published the COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2019/290 of 19 February 2019 establishing the format for registration and reporting of producers of electrical and electronic equipment to the register.

In the Annexes of this Regulation, the format for the following registrations is included:

It shall apply from 1 January 2020.

China

The Second Step of China’s RoHS will enter into effect on March 12, 2019 for selected EEPs in first Batch

On March 12^th 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued "The Standard Management Catalogue of Limiting the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products (EEPs) (first batch)" and "the Exemption List to the Use of Restricted Substances in the Standard Management Catalogue". These two standards are used to implement the second step of Management Methods (Management Methods for Restricted Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products).

The Management Methods adopt a two-step approach:

• As a first step, a declaration of hazardous substances is required if the concentration of restricted substances in the products is over the limits.
• As a second step, the products that are included in “The Standard Management Catalogue of Limiting the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products” have to be subject to concentration limits for hazardous substances except those in the Exemption List.

Besides this, Article 18 of the Management Methods points out that the authorities will develop a “conformity assessment system” that manufacturers will have to follow in order to comply with the requirements, but it has yet to be formalised.

From March 2019, these two standards will come into force.

EEPs categories in first Batch include*:

• Refrigerators (cubage ≤ 800 L)
• Air conditioners (rated refrigerating capacity ≤ 14000 W)
• Washing machines (rated washing capacity ≤ 10 kg)
• Electric water heaters (cubage ≤ 500 L)
• Printers (printing format ≤ A3 and printing speed ≤ 60 sheet/min)
• Copiers (printing format ≤ A3 and printing speed ≤ 60 sheet/min)
• Fax machines
• Televisions
• Monitors
• Microcomputers
• Mobile communication devices
• Telephones

* These product categories are described in the scope of the conformity assessment scheme of hazardous substances in electrical appliances and electronic products. It is the finished product which will define the applicability of the catalogue. The catalogue states that the listed products are out of scope when used as part of other products which are not listed. However, when products are not clearly identified for end use and are sold separately, they fall within the scope of this catalogue.

Restricted hazardous substances**:

• Lead and lead compounds (0,1 %)
• Mercury and mercury compounds (0,1 %)
• Cadmium and cadmium compounds (0,01 %)
• Chromium VI compounds (0,1 %)
• Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) (0,1 %)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) (0,1 %)

** Similar to the EU RoHS Directive, some applications are exempt from the substance restrictions.

Applicable standards (Including amendments) for all EEPs

• Labelling – SJ/T 11364-2014
• Requirements of concentration limits – GB/T 26572-2011
• Test methods – GB/T 26125-2011, GB/T 29783-2013
• Specifications for technical documentation - GB/T36560-2018

Europe/international

Standards Updates

Below a summary table with some recent standards updates and upcoming dates of withdrawal (non-exhaustive):

(*) Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.

(**) Date of availability:  date when the definitive text in the official language versions of an approved CEN/CENELEC publication is distributed by the Central Secretariat.

International

Regulatory updates

Below a summary table with some recent regulation proposals notified to World Trade Organization:

Other worldwide regulatory updates

Below a summary table with some recent updates in legislations and proposals (non-exhaustive):