Electronic Equipment Regulations, 2004

Suppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta, Nru. 17,646, 31 ta’ Awissu, 2004

L.N. 396 of 2004

PRODUCT SAFETY ACT

(ACT NO. V OF 2001)

Restriction of Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and

Electronic Equipment Regulations, 2004

IN exercise of the powers conferred by articles 38 to 40 of the

Product Safety Act, 2001, the Minister for Competitiveness and

Communications, acting on the advice of the Malta Standards Authority,

has made the following regulations>–

(1) The title of these regulations is the Restriction of Use of Citation and

commencement.

Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment

Regulations, 2004.

(2) These regulations shall come into force on the 1st July,

2006. (3) Provided that the maximum concentration values of the

substances referred to in regulation 4 hereto are published, prior to this

date, by the Commission in the Official Journal of the European Union

as required by Article 5(1)(a) of the Directive.

(1) These regulations transpose Directive 2002#95#EC 1 of General scope.

the European Parliament and of the council of 27 January 2003 on the

restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and

electronic equipment, which hereinafter shall be referred to as “the

Directive”.

(2) These regulations shall apply to electrical and electronic

equipment falling within the scope of Directive No. 2002#96#EC 2 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of the 27th January, 2003 on

waste electrical and electronic equipment ( referred to from here on as

the “WEEE directive” in these regulations), and are set out under the

categories 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10 of Annex 1A of the WEEE directive,

(and which have been reproduced as categories 1 to 8 of Schedule II to

these regulations), and to electric light bulbs, and to luminaries in

households.

O.J. L 37#19, 13.2.2003

O.J. L 37#24, 13.2.2003

(3) These regulations shall apply without prejudice to

legislation on safety and health requirements and specific waste

management legislation of the European Community.

(4) These regulations do not apply to spare parts for the

repair, or to the reuse, of electrical and electronic equipment put on the

market before the date of entry into force of these regulations.

For the purposes of these regulations, all the definitions of the

Act shall apply, and in addition>

“electrical and electronic equipment” or “EEE” means

equipment which is dependent on electric currents or

electromagnetic fields in order to work properly and equipment

for the generation, transfer and measurement of such currents and

fields falling under the categories set out in Annex 1A to the WEEE

Directive, reproduced as Schedule II to these regulations, and

designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1 000 volts

for alternating current and 1 500 volts for direct current.

(1) New electrical and electronic equipment put on the

market shall not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium,

polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers

(PBDE) in excess of the levels which are deemed hazardous for the

purpose of these regulations. These levels shall be referred to as “the

maximum concentration values.”

(2) Sub-regulation (1) hereof shall not apply to the

applications listed in Schedule I to these regulations.

(1) There shall be a committee to be set up for the purposes

of these regulations, which is to be composed of representatives from

the Consumer and Industrial Goods Directorate of the Malta Standards

Authority and from the competent body responsible for the environment,

nominated by virtue of article 6 of the Environment Protection Act, and

which shall be established to follow the proceedings referred to in articles

5,6 and 7 of the Directive.

B

Schedule I

(Regulation 4(2))

Applications of lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium, which are

exempt from the requirements of regulation 4(2)

Item No.

Application

Mercury in compact fluorescent lamps not exceeding 5 mg per lamp.

Mercury in straight fluorescent lamps for general purposes not exceeding>

– halophosphate

10 mg

– triphosphate with normal lifetime

5mg

– triphosphate with long lifetime

8mg.

Mercury in straight fluorescent lamps for special purposes.

Mercury in other lamps not specifically mentioned in this Schedule.

Lead in glass of cathode ray tubes, electronic components and fluorescent

tubes.

Lead as an alloying element in steel containing up to 0,35 % lead by weight,

aluminium containing up to 0,4 % lead by weight and as a copper alloy

containing up to 4 % lead by weight.

(a) Lead in high melting temperature type solders (i.e. tin-lead solder

alloys containing more than 85 % lead),

(b) Lead in solders for servers, storage and storage array systems

(exemption granted until 2010),

(c) Lead in solders for network infrastructure equipment for switching,

signaling, transmission as well as network management for

telecommunication,

(d) Lead in electronic ceramic parts (e.g. piezoelectronic devices).

Cadmium plating except for applications banned under Directive

91#338#EEC 3 amending Directive 76#769#EEC 4 relating to restrictions on

the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations.

Hexavalent chromium as an anti-corrosion of the carbon steel cooling

system in absorption refrigerators.

Deca BDE,

Lightbulbs

OJ L 186, 12.7.1991, p. 59.

OJ L 262, 27.9.1976, p. 201.

Exemptions 3, 7(b), 7(c), 10 and 11 are subject to the evaluation of the Commission

through the application of the procedure referred to in article 7(2) of the Directive.

B

Schedule II

(Regulation 2(2))

Categories of electrical equipment reproduced from

Annex 1A of the WEEE Directive

Item No.

Application

Large household appliances

Small household appliances

IT and telecommunications equipment

Consumer equipment

Lighting equipment

Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large-scale stationary

industrial tools)

Toys, leisure and sports equipment

Automatic dispensers