Status on the Review of RoHS Exemptions

First Consultation: Proposed RoHS exemptions agreed by the Technical Committee on the 10th December 2004. It still requires approval by the EU Commision. The further exemptions are:

• Lead used in compliant-pin VHDM (Very High Density Medium) connector system
• Lead as a coating material for a thermal conduction module c-ring
• Lead and cadmium in optical and filter glass
• Lead in optical transceivers for industrial applications
• Lead in solders consisting of more than two elements for the connection between the pins and the package of microprocessors with a lead content of more than 85% in proportion to the tin-lead content (exemption until 2010)
• Lead in high melting temperature type solders (i.e. tin-lead solder alloys containing more than 85% lead) and any lower melting temperature solder required to be used with high melting temperature solder to complete a viable electrical connection
• Lead in solders to complete a viable electrical connection internal to certain Integrated Circuit Packages (Flip Chips) (exemption until 2010)
• Article 4(1) substances in safety equipment for fire and rescue services.
• Lead in lead-bronze bearing-shells and bushes.

Second Consultation: Proposed new exemptions under review. All inputs to be in by 11/02/2005. The proposed new exemptions are:

• Lead in tin whisker resistant coatings for fine pitch applications,
• Lead bound in glass, crystal glass, lead crystal or full lead crystal in general,
• Chromium (also in oxidation state (VI)) and Cadmium as colouring batch addition each form up to a content of 2 % in glass, crystal glass, lead crystal or full lead crystal used as decorative and / or functional part of electric or electronic equipment,
• Solders containing lead and/or cadmium for specific applications,
• Hexavalent chromium (CRVI) passivation coatings,
• Lead in lead oxide glass plasma display panels,
• Lead in connectors, flexible printed circuits, flexible flat cables,
• Lead oxide in lead glass, bonding materials of magnetic heads and magnetic heads,
• Cadmium as doping material in avalanche photodiodes (APDs) for the optical fiber communication systems,
• Lead in optical isolators,
• Lead in sheath heater of Microwaves,
• Cadmium pigments except for applications banned under Directive 91/338/EEC amending Directive 76/769/EEC relating to the restriction on the marketing and use of certain substances,
• High Intensity Discharge (HID) lamps for professional U.V. applications, containing lead halide as radiant agent,
• Discharge lamps for special purposes containing lead as activator in the fluorescent powder (1% lead by weight or less),
• Discharge lamps containing lead in the form of an amalgam,
• Mercury free flat panel lamp,
• Special purposes Black Light Blue (BLB) lamps, containing lead in the glass envelope,
• Low melting point alloys containing lead,
• Galvanised steel containing up to 0.35% lead by weight and aluminium with an unintended lead content up to 0.4% lead by weight in electrical and electronic equipment,
• Lead in solder and hexavalent chromium in surface treatment, in parts recovered from production printers and copying equipment, sold, rented or leased or otherwise returned from professional users other than private households, originally put on the market before 1 July 2006, and reused for the same purpose within the original manufacturer's closed loop system until 1 July 2011. In this context a closed loop system means a system whereby the equipment remains the property of the manufacturer or is subject to other contractual arrangements and is returned to the manufacturer either when the contract expires or at end of life,
• Cadmium sulphide photocells,
• Applications of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBBs and PBDEs in electrical and electronic equipment in the aeronautic and aerospace sectors that requires high safety standards.