C-64 Part 4: Case Studies
Exhibit 5 Reduction of Hazardous Substances and Waste Electrical and Electronic Directives
The Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive was adopted by the European Union in February 2003, to be effective
as of July 1, 2006. It was closely allied with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive. Each European Union
member state was required to adopt its own enforcement and implementation policies using the directives as a guide.
The purpose of the RoHS directive was to establish restrictions of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equip-
ment, and to contribute to the protection of human health and the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste electrical
and electronic equipment.^12 RoHS was often referred to as the lead-free directive, but it actually restricted the use of six substances:- Lead
- Mercury
- Cadmium
- Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+)
- Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
- Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) [PBB and PBDE are flame retardants used in several plastics.]
The WEEE directive’s purpose was, as a first priority, the prevention of WEEE, and in addition, to promote the reuse, recycling,
and other forms of recovery of such wastes so as to reduce disposal. It also sought to improve the environmental performance of
all operators involved in the life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers, and in par-
ticular those operators directly involved in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment. The directive imposed the
responsibility for the disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment on the manufacturers of such equipment. Those com-
panies should establish an infrastructure for collecting WEEE, in such a way that, “Users of electrical and electronic equipment from
private households should have the possibility of returning WEEE at least free of charge.” Also, the companies were compelled to use
the collected waste in an ecological-friendly manner, either by ecological disposal or by reuse/refurbishment of the collected WEEE.^13
The directives were implemented in part to address the global issue of consumer electronics waste. As newer technology
arrived at an ever-increasing rate, consumers were discarding their obsolete products sooner than ever and the toxic, hightech
trash tended to end up in third world countries.^14 The directives applied to products in the EU, whether they were made in the
EU or imported. While there were certain exclusions or exemptions to the RoHS directive, under WEEE, manufacturers remained
responsible for product disposal, even years later.
The RoHS directive did not apply to fixed industrial plant and tools, aerospace, or military applications. Compliance was the
responsibility of the company that put the product on the market, which in practicality meant that subcontractors and compo-
nent manufacturers had to convey information to the final producer, since the directive applied at the homogeneous product
level. The maximum permitted concentrations of the six substances listed above were 0.1 percent or 1000 ppm (except for cad-
mium, which was limited to 0.01 percent or 100 ppm) by weight of homogeneous material. This meant that the limits did not
apply to the weight of the finished product, or even to a component, but to any single substance that could (theoretically) be
separated mechanically—for example, the sheath on a cable or the tinning on a component lead.
As an example, a radio is comprised of a case, screws, washers, a circuit board, speakers, etc. The screws, washers, and case
may each be made of homogenous materials, but the other components are comprised of multiple sub-components of many
different types of material. For instance, a circuit board is comprised of a bare PCB, ICs, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc. A switch
is a combination of a case, a lever, a spring, contacts, pins, etc, each of which may be made of different materials. A contact might
be a copper strip with a surface coating. A speaker utilized a permanent magnet, copper wire, paper, etc. Everything identified
as a homogeneous material must meet the limit. If it was found that the case was made of plastic with 2,300 ppm (0.23 percent)
PBB used as a flame retardant, then the entire radio would fail the requirements of the directive.
China developed a similar directive, which was implemented March 1, 2007, with a key difference: in the EU RoHS, items were
included in the ban unless specifically excluded. In the Chinese directive, only the catalogued items were banned. As of 2009,
China RoHS has acted primarily as a labeling law. Companies needed to only disclose which hazardous materials are in their
EEE.^15 Japan’s recycling laws spurred Japanese manufacturers to move to a lead-free process in accordance with RoHS guidelines,
although it did not have any direct legislation dealing with the RoHS substances.
California passed the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (EWRA), which prevented the sale of a narrow range of electronic
devices (mostly those with screens, e.g. televisions, monitors) that were prohibited from being sold under the EU RoHS. Other states
and cities were debating similar laws. RoHS-like litigation on the Federal level was not expected in the near or medium term. However,
many manufacturers, especially those who shipped internationally, were finding it more cost effective to manufacture and document
goods (through their bill of materials) to a single set of specifications, and typically comply with the most stringent regulations.