The RoHS and WEEE legislation started as an environmental concern. Landfill space in Europe was very hard to find and the EU was seeking a better way to deal with waste. This initiative ended up with the WEEE directive but it was soon realised that they may be creating a health issue for the recycling industry and also there were continuing environmental concerns with contamination of groundwater from the electrical and electronic equipment that would undoubtably still find its way into land fill sites. Where this led to was the RoHS directive - to ban any substances that were thought to be harmful.

The EU follow a philosophy called the precautionary principle which basically means that if a substance is thought to be harmful, then in the absence of conclusive scientific evidence to the contrary an alternative must be used. It is meant to take into account existing scientific evidence however in effect perception does at times over rule fact. which opens up the potential for alternatives being used that are even more environmentally unfriendly. Follow this link for the environmental counter argument against the removal of lead in solder

The directives are issued by the European Council and each of the 25 member states have to transpose the directives into their own national law. The EU has a number of different methods by which it can issue directives. These are stipulated in the EU constitution. The RoHS Directive was formulated under Article 95 which effectively means that it must be consistant across all member states. The WEEE directive was formulated under Article 175(1) which allows member states more scope for interpretation. In particular the reuse, recycling and recovery levels set by the directive are minimum levels which allows each member state to set a higher level if it so desires. This is of particular interest to manufacturers of Medical Devices and Monitoring and Control equipment as the levels set by the directive are zero.

Each member state was required to transpose the directives into law by 13 August 2004. Only 2 countries met the deadline but this not indicative of a potential movement of the deadline by which producers need to comply.

The directives are under a EU department called DG Environment. Since the directives were published a Technical Adaptation Committee was formed with representatives from each member state. This committee sits monthly and has the mandate to clear up the finer details (and some) of the interpretation and adaptation of the RoHS and WEEE directives. Their unofficial minutes are the absolute best way to keep on top of the latest developments. 

The DTI in UK produced guidance documents in July 2004 with the last update for RoHS June 2006. These take their information from the TAC minutes so it is best to use the  RoHS guidance and WEEE guidance documents. These are very useful for definitions and scope.

In May 2005 the EU released a  "FAQs document" to clarify the so called grey areas of scope. This is best used in conjunction with the RoHS guidance and WEEE Guidance documents that are linked above. This clarification document takes the form of a set of tables of Frequently Asked Questions but the format does work quite well. Most usefully it contains a column of examples. This link has the June 2006 updated document (warning it is 2.1MB)

As from June 2007 this site is no longer updated. Please see http://www.dti.gov.uk/innovation/sustainability/weee/WEEE%20in%20the%20EU/page35964.html for TAC Minutes after June 2007

TAC Minutes November 2006

TAC Minutes June 2006

TAC Minutes Feb 2006

TAC Minutes 6 July 2005

Covers: RoHS exemptions process,  Status of the CENELEC WEEE Marking Standard, Deca BDE- which is back in with a chance of an exemption,  Maximum Concentration Values,  Review of status of category 8 and 9 (Medical devices, Monitoring and Control Equipment), Grace Periods  Summary report of the DTI workshop on the implementation of the RoHS directive.

TAC Minutes 19 April 2005

Covers: Deca BDE proposed exemption. This did not get the necessary majority and is now with the European Parliment and Environment Council for consideration. Grey area discussion, no decisions, WEEE treatment, WEEE harmonisation of registration of producers, Discussion of CENELEC EN50419 (crossed out wheeled bin) conflicting with the directive, movement of refurbished ICT equipment, the need for reference materials for brominated flame retardants, 19 further requests for exemption to be funded by the EC. And finally of huge environmental significance - discussion (again)on the request for exemption for lead in the glass of chandeliers.

Editors note: the lead content of cut crystal chandeliers is the similar to that of lead crystal wine glasses. If we are willing to drink out of it why would it ever be a problem in a land fill??? Also how many high value cut glass chandeliers get disposed of - most find their way into antique shops or second hand shops. Surely there are some more important issues to resolve at this level!

TAC Minutes 16 March 2005

Covers: Second vote on exemptions that was voted on in December and subsequently questioned by the Environment Committee of the European Parliment. Discussion on RoHS compliance approaches, how to handle future reqests for exemptions, WEEE marking (CENELEC EN50419) - two states will require marking on household products only but the majority will require on all products, response to latest stakeholder consultation, progress of Commisssons guidance document, progress on ratifing the maximum concentration values (MCVs), call for tender for investiggation for inclusion of category 8 and 9 EEE.

TAC Minutes 10 Dec 2004  

Covers: Exemptions, how to handle further Covers: Exemptions, how to handle further requests for exemption, marking of small products, methods of RoHS compliance, commission guidance on "grey area" products, default adoption of proposal of maximum concentration values.of proposal of maximum concentration values.

TAC Minutes 22 October 2004

Covers: Discussion on exemptions, Deca BDE

TAC Minutes 20 July 2004

Covers: Results of stakeholder consultation on further exemptions, WEEE data formats, presentation of draft standard for WEEE (crossed out wheelie bin), Revised Minimum Concentration Value discussion, Discussion of "grey area" products.

TAC Minutes 28 June 2004

Covers: Discussion on Maximum Concentration Values, Discussion of certain "grey area" products, EICTA paper on RoHS capacity expansions and upgrades, WEEE- clarification on producer financial responsibility, WEEE directive - data formats, RoHS - future requests for exemptions, UK plans for workshop on MCV and interpretation of "Homogeneous Material" (thankfully someone took the initiative (Eds. note))

Covers: Legal status of DTI Guidance document, Homogenous material, Deca-BDE.

TAC Minutes 17 March 2004

Covers: Definition of  "producer" in relation to importers, free riders, exemptions discussion, Maximum Concentration Values

TAC minutes 3 March 2004

To be read in conjunction with 17 March - definition of "producer" in relation to importers

TAC Minutes 27 January 2004

Covers: Toys, Scope of RoHS and WEEE and DTI guidance document, "put on the market" and "producer", Formats for member states data reporting, exemption process, Maximum Concentration Values, WEEE implementation of article 8, WEEE directive - marking 

TAC Minutes 17 Dec 2003

Once again discusses scope but does not reach any conclusions.

Covers: Discussion on Scope - several specific examples, RoHS compliance method discussion - self declaration, Maximum Concentration Values, WEEE marking

TAC Minutes 26 November 2003 

Discusses scope but does not reach any conclusions.

Covers: Interface with Battery directive, military equipment, large scale industrial equipment, data reporting, RoHS Compliance method. Agreement that all TAC papers would be made publically available.

This was a special workshop convened by the UK DTI to resolve the scope discussions. (Eds note: my thanks are exetended to the DTI representative for taking the much needed initiative).

Covers: Financial guarantees and producer responsibility, Definition of "producer"  and "placed on the market", retailer takeback, free riders, RoHS enforcement, Permitting of retailers and storage of WEEE, Standards for treatment and processing, meeting recovery and recycling rates, business to business financing. Note these minutes appear to be that last ones to date (Jan 2004) that discuss "put to market and "producer" but the most definitive definition is in the either the RoHS or WEEE DTI Guidance documents. See above for links.

TAC Minutes 16 September 2003

Discusses scope but does not reach any conclusions.

Discussion on scope, military, large scale industrial tools, products that are not finished products i.e have no useful function of their own, for example wheelchair controllers, that this definition of products that are part of other products should harminise with the EMC directive, products that are part of a product that falls outside the WEEE directivediscussion of fixed installation possibly being outside scope.

TAC Minutes 11 July 2003

Discusses scope but does not reach any conclusions.

Discusses scope, car radios,Toys,Refrigerators in caravans,Military equipment, large scale inductrial machinary, products that do not need electricity to function.

TAC Minutes 23 June 2003

Discusses scope but does not reach any conclusions.

Identifies definitions as key implementation issues, the role of the TAC, discusses definition of "put on the market" (note the conclusive definition is in the minutes 24 Oct 2003), WEEE marking, spare parts

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