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C h a p t e r 2 : h a p t e r 2 : C u r r e n t I n i t i a t i v e s a n d S t a n d a r d s u r r e n t I n i t i a t i v e s a n d S t a n d a r d s 35 35

Manufacturers are also required to dispose of, recycle, or refurbish equipment in an
ecological manner.

NOTE The WEEE Directive also has guidelines controlling the transboundary movement of used PART I
electrical and electronic appliances.
PART I
PART I
When the WEEE Directive became law, it required all of the EU’s member states to
adopt it into national law by August 13, 2004. The only country to meet this deadline was
Cyprus. One year later, all member states except for Malta and the United Kingdom had
adopted at least portions of the directive. The United Kingdom finally adopted the
regulations, and it went into force on January 2, 2007.
RoHS
Whereas the WEEE Directive is designed to help manage e-waste, the European
Union also took steps to reduce how much waste is actually produced. The
Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) was adopted in February
2003 by the European Union.
The directive restricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of certain
types of electronic equipment:

• Lead
• Mercury
• Cadmium
• Hexavalent chromium
• Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)

The directive sets a maximum concentration of these materials at 0.1 percent (cadmium
is much lower at 0.01 percent) by weight of homogenous material. This means that the
weight of these elements—if extracted from the finished product—cannot exceed the
aforementioned limits.

National Adoption
Although the WEEE and RoHS Directives come from the EU, countries have to pass their
own national laws.