The countries France, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway have published a guidance document  “Guidance for Suppliers of Articles”   that explains SVHC communication responsibilities based on the “Once an article, always an article” principle.  These countries have previously disagreed with the ECHA guidance that allows the 0.1% threshold to be applied based on the weight of the imported article.  The guidance document advocates a reporting threshold for SVHCs that is based on when substances/mixtures containing an SVHC are first made into an article.  According to the guidance, the information on SVHC content must be provided to downstream manufacturers and users even if the the first article (usually a part) is assembled into a larger article.   This principle will have a significant impact on the restricted substance control systems for many EEE manufacturers and distributors.

Canada issues mandatory survey notice for chemicals and products that contain any of the ten substances included in the Environment Canada list of Certain organic flame retardant substances.

First Stakeholder meeting was held in Brussels as part of the review of the “List of Restricted Substances under RoHS 2”. Several industry stakeholders expressed concern about the large number of substances being considered and that manufacturer specific voluntary restrictions  are being considered in the assessment.

Manufacturers have new obligations including Conformity Assessment Procedures, Technical Documentation, Register of non-conforming products, and identifying marks.

Manufacturers have an immediate obligation to be able to provide information on these SVHCs in their products above 0.1 percent of the article weight. The SVHC  Candidate List now contains 138 substances.  The International validation team for the IEC 62474 Declarable Substance List will begin assessing these substance to determine which substance may occur in electronics.

EU Commission kicks off the consultation to review additional substances for restriction in the EU RoHS Directive.  The final report and recommendations are scheduled for publication by November 21, 2013. Several high priority substances have already been identified: The flame retardants Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBP-A), Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), and the phthalates Bis (2-ehtylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), and Dibutyl phthalate (DBP).

The EU has added 13 substances to the SVHC Candidate List bringing the total to 84 substances which impose mandatory communication obligations for manufacturers, importers and distributors.  The substances are:  TEGDME; EGDME; Diboron trioxide; Formamide; Lead(II) bis(methanesulfonate); TGIC; ?-TGIC; Michler’s ketone;  Michler’s base;  dimethylammonium chloride (C.I. Basic Blue 26) [with ? 0.1% of Michler’s ketoneor Michler’s base];  dimethylammonium chloride (C.I. Basic Violet 3) [with ? 0.1% of Michler’s ketone or Michler’s base]; 4,4′-bis(dimethylamino)-4”-(methylamino)trityl alcohol [with ? 0.1% of Michler’s ketone or Michler’s base]; and ?,?-Bis[4-(dimethylamino)phenyl]-4 (phenylamino)naphthalene-1-methanol (C.I. Solvent Blue 4) [with ? 0.1% of Michler’s ketone  or Michler’s base]

Recast of the RoHS Directive (RoHS2) is published in the EU Official Journal.  The new conformity assessment and technical documentation requirements and revised scope take effect on January 2, 2013. For additional information on the changes introduced by RoHS2 please click here.