Implementation of the RoHS Directive (2024)

The RoHS Directive allows for exemptions from its restrictions, under certain conditions defined in article 5(1), adapting the Annexes to scientific and technical progress.

Exemptions are limited in time and reassessed on a regular basis, taking into account

• the availability, practicability and reliability of substitutes
• the environmental, health and consumer safety impacts of substitution
• the socioeconomic impact of substitution
• any potential adverse impacts on innovation

Industry regularly applies for the renewal of exemptions or for additional applications to be exempted from the Directive's requirements. An application for renewal of an exemption shall be made no later than 18 months before the exemption expires. Each request must be evaluated, and when appropriate, an exemption is granted.

A decision on a RoHS exemption currently takes 18 to 24 months from the application date. Priority is given to older applications. Existing exemptions for which a renewal request has been submitted remain valid until a decision is taken by the Commission. This decision either indicates a new expiry date or, in case of rejection, grants a transition period of 12 to 18 months before the exemption expires. When deciding about a new expiry date, the renewal application period of 18 months will be taken into consideration. Exemptions for which no application for renewal was submitted in due time will expire on the date specified in Article 5 or in the relevant annex of the Directive.

For exemptions that are under review but for which no new expiry date has yet been set by a new delegated directive and for which a current expiry date lies in the past, there is normally no need to submit a new renewal application. A submission may be required in exceptional cases, e.g. if new evidence affects the recommended scope.

After submitting a request for a new exemption, equipment must comply with the Directive to be placed on the Union market, until a decision granting a new exemption is adopted by the Commission.

The Commission evaluation procedure involves several steps:

1. The technical and scientific assessment study and stakeholder consultation typically takes around 10 months.
2. Once a proposal has been made, the Commission consults with Member States and the European Parliament. You can access the agendas and minutes of the Member States expert group for RoHS 2 adaptation and enforcement in the Register of Commission Expert Groups.
3. The draft delegated directive/decision is then published for public feedback (4 weeks) and notified to the WTO Technical Barriers to Trade Committee (60 days).
4. The Delegated Directive will then be adopted by the Commission. The draft Delegated directives adopted by the Commission are available before official publication. The status of the draft delegated act is available in the Interinstitutional register of delegated acts.
5. The two-month scrutiny period of the European Parliament and the Council commences (an extension of the scrutiny period on request is possible). After this scrutiny period, in case of no objections from the co-legislators, the Delegated Directive will be published in the Official Journal.

RoHS stakeholder consultations

• Stakeholder consultation on 10 exemption requests under Pack 27; from 8 November 2023 until 18 January 2024
• Stakeholder consultation on 9 exemption requests under Pack 27; from 16 October 2023 to 11 December 2023
• Stakeholder consultation on 8 exemption requests under Pack 24; carried out by Oeko-Institut; from 30 March 2021 to 8 June 2021
• Stakeholder consultation on 11 exemption requests under Pack 23; carried out by Bio Innovation Service; from 18 March 2021 to 27 May 2021
• Stakeholder consultations on 9 exemption requests under Pack 22; from 23 December 2020 to 3 March 2021
• Stakeholder consultations on 16 exemption requests under Pack 21; from 23 September to 2 December 2020
• Stakeholder consultations on 2 exemption requestsunder Pack 19 and 20; from 10 January to 20 February 2020
• Stakeholder consultations on 2 exemption requests under Pack 18; from 3 December 2019 until 27 January 2020
• Stakeholder consultation on 4 exemption requests under Pack 15 and 17; from 18/03/2019 to 13/05/2019
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests under Pack 16; from 31/10/2018 to 19/12/2018
• Stakeholder consultation on 8 exemption requests; from 20/10/2017 to 01/12/2017
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests; from 26/09/2017 to 07/11/2017
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests; from 28/10/2016 to 22/12/2016
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests; from 14/03/2016 to 09/05/2016
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests; from 30/10/2015 to 08/01/2016
• Stakeholder consultation on 83 exemption requests; from 21/08/2015 to 16/10/2015
• Stakeholder consultation on 6 exemption requests; from 24/04/2015 to 19/06/2015
• Stakeholder consultation on 2 exemption requests; from 31/10/2014 to 09/01/2015
• Stakeholder consultation on 1 exemption request; from 20/12/2013 to 28/02/2014
• Stakeholder consultation on 5 exemption requests; from 19/08/2013 to 11/11/2013
• Stakeholder consultation on 3 exemption requests; from 21/12/2012 to 15/02/2013
• Stakeholder consultation on 4 exemption requests; from 09/11/2012 to 01/02/2013
• Stakeholder consultation on 11 exemption requests; from 26/06/2012 to 04/09/2012
• Stakeholder consultation on 18 exemption requests; from 24/01/2012 to 20/03/2012

Assessment studies on exemptions

The Commission frequently receives requests from industry for applications to be exempted from the substance restrictions of the RoHS Directive. These requests need to be evaluated in order to assess whether they fulfil the requirements mentioned in Article 5 of the Directive.

The full list of exemption requests submitted to the Commission between November 2019 and January 2020 can be consultedhere.

Ongoing assessment studies

Completed assessment studies

• Exemptions assessment report #27
• Exemptions assessment report #26
• Exemptions assessment report #25
• Exemptions assessment report #24
• Exemptions assessment report #23
• Exemptions assessment report #23 – exemption 9(a)-III
• Exemptions assessmentreport #22
  Status February 2024: To reach a final decision on the Pack 22 exemption requests, the assessments under the Pack 27 need to be completed since applications are partly covered for the same exemption entries. The Commission will then draw up draft acts, which will be also subject to a public consultation.
• Exemptions assessmentreport #21
• Exemptions assessmentreport #20
• Exemptions assessmentreport #19
• Exemptions assessmentreport #18
• Update of exemptions assessment report #18
• Exemptions assessmentreport #17
• Exemptions assessmentreport #16
• Exemptions assessmentreport #15 task 5
• Study on the socio-economic impact of substitution of certain mercury-based lamps
• Exemptions assessmentreport #14
• Exemptions assessmentreport #13
• Exemptions assessmentreport #12
• Exemptions assessmentreport #11
• Exemptions assessmentreport #10
• Exemptions assessmentreport #9
• Exemptions assessmentreport #8
• Exemptions assessmentreport #7
• Exemptions assessmentreport #6
• Exemptions assessmentreport #5
• Exemptions assessmentreport #4
• Exemptions assessmentreport #3
• Exemptions assessmentreport #2
• Exemptions assessmentreport #1
• Exemptions assessmentreport #0b
• Exemptions assessmentreport #0a