Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive

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Directive 2002/95/EC

European Union directive
Title	Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment
Made by	Council & Parliament
Made under	Art. 95 EC
Journal reference	eur-lex.europa.eu L37, 13 February 2003, pp. 19–23
History
Date made	27 January 2003
Came into force	13 February 2003
Implementation date	13 August 2004
Preparative texts
Commission proposal	C365E, 19 December 2000, p. 195, C240E, 28 August 2001, p. 303.
EESC opinion	C116, 20 April 2001, p. 38.
CR opinion	C148, 18 May 2001, p. 1.
EP opinion	C34E, 7 February 2002, p. 109.
Other legislation
Amended by	Directive 2008/35/EC; Decision 2005/618/EC, Decision 2005/717/EC, Decision 2005/747/EC, Decision 2006/310/EC, Decision 2006/690/EC, Decision 2006/691/EC, Decision 2006/692/EC, Decision 2008/385/EC.
Replaced by	Directive 2011/65/EU, 3 January 2013[1]
Recast with new legislation

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.^[2]

The initiative was to limit the amount of hazardous chemicals in electronics.

The RoHS 1 directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and became a law in each member state.^[3] This directive restricts (with exceptions) the use of ten hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. In addition to the exceptions, there are exclusions for products such as solar panels. It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC (now superseded^[4]) which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic electronic waste. In speech, RoHS is often spelled out, or pronounced^{[citation needed]} /rɒs/, /rɒʃ/, /roʊz/, or /ˈroʊhɒz/, and refers to the EU standard, unless otherwise qualified.