{"id":1428,"date":"2018-09-16T09:20:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T13:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2018-11-16T09:23:50","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T14:23:50","slug":"gcc-eu-comments-on-gcc-rohs-regulations-and-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/2018\/09\/16\/gcc-eu-comments-on-gcc-rohs-regulations-and-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"GCC \u2013 EU Comments on GCC RoHS Regulations and Responses"},"content":{"rendered":"

In response to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) draft RoHS regulation, the EU submitted a few comments about the objectives of the regulation and some differences that were identified between the EU RoHS Directive and the GCC proposal.\u00a0 Bahrain provided a response on behalf of the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO).<\/p>\n

Certification Bodies<\/strong><\/p>\n

The draft GCC regulation specified a requirement for certification by an \u201cAccepted Conformity Assessment Body” but it was unclear how an accepted body is designated.<\/p>\n

The GSO responded that the GSO has established a \u201cfully transparent system\u201d for CABs qualification which is already being used for low voltage electronic equipment and toys.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelevant information, procedure for notification, and list of notified bodies can be reached at the following link: https:\/\/www.gso.org.sa\/nb\/<\/a> \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

GSO stated that they will start to accredit Notified Bodies once the RoHS requirements are approved.<\/p>\n

Self-Declaration vs. Certification<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU suggested that the EU RoHS approach of manufacturer self assessment and declaration may be \u201cless trade restrictive\u201d than pre-market certification.<\/p>\n

The GSO responded that they are seeking the simplest approach but that their market surveillance system is still weak, so it is too early to rely on a system based on self-declaration.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 GSO needs first to strengthen the Market Surveillance in Member States, to establish a legal framework for producers liability and to encourage Consumer Protection Associations that contribute significantly to Market Surveillance.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Exclusions for spare parts and other equipment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU noted that the draft does not include the general exclusion for spare parts for the repair and upgrade of older products.\u00a0 The GSO responded that it will consider adding such a provision for spare parts to align with EU RoHS.<\/p>\n

Alignment with EU RoHS exemptions<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are differences between the latest EU RoHS exemptions and the draft GCC RoHS. The GSO agreed to align the exemptions with EU RoHS Annex III and IV as last updated on \u201c18 May 2018\u201d and to include time limits on the exemptions.<\/p>\n

Duplicate declarations by manufacturer and importer <\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU raised a concern that the requirement for similar declarations from both the manufacturer and the importer was redundant and inefficient. The GSO acknowledged that this issue has been previously raised on other regulations and the GSO is seeking with GCC member states to find a way to simplify this requirement.<\/p>\n

Harmonized Implementation of requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU raised a desire for harmonized implementation of GCC RoHS across the GSO and its member countries. The GSO responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the central mission of GSO, which commit and push towards a uniform implementation of GSO TRs,\u2026 \u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

Impact on EEE Manufacturers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The GSO commitment to align with EU RoHS on most of the technical requirements (except self-declaration) and to harmonize implementation across the GCC member states will be welcome to EEE manufacturers.\u00a0 However, it appears that the certification requirement for RoHS compliance is likely to remain.<\/p>\n

The agreement to add time limits on the exemptions to align with EU RoHS could create some challenges. History with other RoHS regulations has shown that most countries can\u2019t maintain the exemptions as quickly as the European Commission, causing misalignment and potentially leading to old exemptions expiring without new exemptions being implemented in time. The upcoming inclusion of RoHS exemptions in the IEC62474 International standard could help regulators outside of the EU by enabling them to directly reference an International Recognized list that is maintained as up to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) draft RoHS regulation, the EU submitted a few comments about the objectives of the regulation and some differences that were identified between the EU RoHS Directive and the GCC proposal.\u00a0 Bahrain provided a response on behalf of the GCC Standardization Organization (GSO). Certification Bodies The draft GCC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nl2018q3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1476,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rohs.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}