Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

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

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

14 July 2006

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 259/2006

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. 439/2005 of 28 October 2005, the European Commission (the Commission) has adopted a Decision to exempt certain uses of lead 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 Decision 2006/310/EC (the Decision), a copy (pdf format) of which is attached to this circular for reference.

DETAILS

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 are still unavoidable, the Commission has decided to extend the list of exemption. For details of the newly added exemptions, please refer to the Annex (pdf format) to the Decision.

ENQUIRIES

3. For enquiries about the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5684.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Veronica YIM)

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.