If passed into law, changes are expected to come into force in the UK during 2008 |
Additional information-gathering powers, which will make it easier for the enforcement authority to identify manufacturers who are responsible for placing non-compliant electrical and electronic equipment on the market, are proposed by the Dept for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform in a new set of Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Regulations.
The information-gathering powers aim to tackle existing problems in tracing manufacturers of non-compliant products that have been test-purchased by the enforcement authority from retailers. They are supported by new sanctions aimed specifically at removing non-compliant goods from the market.
The new regulations also change the way the regulations refer to those applications of hazardous substances that are exempt from the RoHS Directive. Exempt substances would instead be defined as those listed in the annex to the directive, as amended from time to time.
The obligations imposed on manufacturers by the existing RoHS regulations and the range of persons on whom they are imposed remain unchanged.
'Changes to the Restriction on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Regulations 2006/1463' (Urn 07/1386) is available at http://tinyurl.com/yqf7ve - pdf (DBERR Publications Orderlinc; Tel: 0845 015 0010). Responses were due by 29 November 2007.