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Trade and Industry Department The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Brand Hong Kong - Asia world city
MY COLOUR

Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : Sub-file(A) to EIC 230/2/11

31 October 2006

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 427/2006

European Union (EU)* : Amendment to the Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Further to Commercial Information Circular No. 259/2006 of 14 July 2006, the European Commission (the Commission) has adopted three Decisions to exempt certain uses of lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium from the requirement of the Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Details are set out in Commission Decisions 2006/690/EC, 2006/691/EC and 2006/692/EC (the Decisions), copies of which are attached at Annexes A, B and C (pdf format) respectively for reference.

DETAILS

  1.  
  2. Commercial Information Circular No.340/2005 of 24 August 2005 informed the trade that from 1 July 2006, new EEE put on the market should not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers over certain prescribed levels. However, certain materials and components containing these hazardous substances can be exempted from the prohibition if the elimination or substitution of these substances is impracticable. Considering that certain uses of lead, cadmium and hexavalent chromium are still unavoidable, the Commission has decided to extend the list of exemption. For details of the newly added exemptions, please refer to the Decisions at Annexes.

ENQUIRIES

  1. For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5500.

Yours faithfully,




(K H NG)

for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU includes Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.



Note ：

  • While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the above information, the Department cannot guarantee this to be so and will not be held liable for any reliance placed on the same.