Study to assess requests for a renewal of nine (-9-) exemptions 6(a), 6(a)-I, 6(b), 6(b)-I, 6(b)-II, 6(c), 7(a), 7(c)-I and 7 (c)-11 of Annex III of Directive 2011/65/EU

The RoHS Directive (2011/65/EU) on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment requires“that EEE placed on the market, including cables and spare parts for its repair, its reuse, updating of its functionalities or upgrading of its capacity, does not contain the substances listed in Annex II” (i.e. lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers and the phthalates dibutyl phthalate (DBP), bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). These provisions "shall not apply to the applications listed in Annexes III and IV" (Article 4). These Annexes are to be adapted to scientific and technical progress on the basis of the provisions listed in Article 5 of the Directive. With contract No.070201/2020/8358484/ENV.B.3implementing Framework contract No ENV.B.3/FRA/2019/0017, a consortium led by Ramboll Deutschland GmbH, has been requested by DG Environment of the European Commission to provide technical and scientific support for the evaluation of exemption requests under the RoHS 2 regime. The work is being undertaken by the Oeko-Institut. The current study has been requested to provide support for the evaluation of applications for renewing exemptions included in Annex III of the RoHS Directive. In the course of this study, sixteen requests for the renewal of exemptions 6(a), 6(a)-I, 6(b), 6(b)-I, 6(b)-II, 6(c), 7(a), 7(c)-I and 7 (c)-II of Annex III are assessed. The assessment process includes three main stages. It begins with a first screening of the applications for exemption after which a stakeholder consulation is held to collect additional information and support on whether the requests should be granted or rejected. This is followed by the assessment of the request in the context of the information available and retrieved through futher communication with relevant stakehdolers. Results of the study are then reported to the European Commission together with conlusions and recomendations.