Scope of “RoHS 2” is Amended as UE aims to boost circular economy

On 21 November 2017, the EU published the new Directive 2017/2012 that amends the scope of Directive 2011/65/EU on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS 2), focusing in particular on the secondary market operations for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). These consist of repair, replacement of spare parts, refurbishment and reuse, as well as retrofitting that for the EU should be facilitated to promote a circular economy.

As RoHS 2 allowed EEE that escaped the scope of the previous Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), but which did not comply with Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2), to continue to be made available on the market until 22 July 2019 (both for first placing and on secondary market operations), with this new Directive the RoHS 2 prohibition of substances shall not apply to reused spare parts, provided reuse takes place in auditable closed-loop business-to-business return systems, and that the reuse of spare parts is notified to the consumer.

UE Member States will have to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with Directive 2017/2102 amending RoHS 2 by 12 June 2019.

The full text of the new directive is available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017L2102&from=EN