New RoHS II Directive comes into force

The original RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC) placed restriction on the amount of hazardous substance that can be used in certain categories of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). The Directive has been in force since mid 2006, but has now been replaced on the 2nd January 2013 with a new Directive (2011/65/EU), which will be implemented in the UK by Statutory Instrument 2012 No. 3032.

The substances listed within the new Directive (known as RoHS II) do not differ to the original Directive however the following are two of the major changes:

• CE Marking: The original Directive did not have any formal marking requirements to illustrate conformity to the RoHS Directive, which lead to many manufacturers designing their own RoHS Compliant Symbol and issuing their own ‘certificate of conformity.’ The new Directive now requires manufacturers of products within scope to follow conformity assessment Module A (Internal Production Control) within the New Legislative Framework (768/2008/EC) and to affix the CE mark to the product. The manufacture must also draw up their own Declaration of Conformity, declaring conformity to the RoHS Directive. Therefore from the 2nd January 2013, all products that were under the scope of the original RoHS Directive should now be affixed with the CE Mark.
• Wider scope: The original RoHS Directive applied to 8 of the 10 categories of the WEEE Directive however RoHS II has a wider scope, which will be phased in over the next six years.
  • Medical Devices from 22nd July 2014
  • Monitoring and control instruments from 22nd July 2014
  • In vitro diagnostic medical from 22nd July 2016
  • Industrial monitoring & control instruments from 22nd July 2017
  • All Electrical & Electronic Equipment (EEE) from 22nd July 2019

For more help and advice on CE Marking and product compliance please call us on 01527 595066 or visit our website: www.cemarkingassociation.co.uk