RoHS 2.1 - the Story Continues

The EU Directive on the Restriction of certain Hazardous Substances in Electric and Electronic Equipment (RoHS, 2002/95/EC) was originally published in 2003. It banned the heavy metals cadmium, lead, chromium(VI), mercury as well as the brominated flame retardants PBBs and PBDEs in E&E equipment. There is a legislative mandate that the directive is revised regularly, and after long discussions in particular on any additions to the list of restricted substances, a “re-cast” was published as 2011/65/EU. Although there were strong proponents of further bans on halogenated flame retardants, no new substance bans (Annex II) were put in place. However, substance restrictions need to be reviewed by July 2014 and the European Commission has just started a public consultation for this process. It is quite likely that flame retardants will again feature on the list of candidates. Therefore, equipment producers who have proactively switched to uncritical alternatives should be on the safe side. Clariant has actively participated in projects like ENFIRO to prove the good environmental and health profile of Exolit® products.