Today, Parliament has adopted the recast of the RoHS Directive, which lays down rules on the restriction of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It protects human health and the environment, and supports the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste.The purpose of our action was to address a number of urgent problems identified in the current directive and linked to its scope, which would have arisen after 22 July 2019. The deal provides, in particular, that secondary market operations for electrical and electronic equipment that were newly covered by RoHS – as well as the use of spare parts for such equipment – will now still be possible after 22 July 2019. Furthermore, I have fought and managed to increase legislative certainty by introducing an official timeline for the Commission, according to which it will adopt decisions on exemptions from the substance restrictions.As a rapporteur, I am happy to have reached an important agreement in only six months, between January and June 2017. Quick action was particularly needed in order to encourage the refurbishment and recycling of electric and electronic equipment and therefore to contribute to the promotion of a circular economy.
2016/11/22