Exempt Products

RoHS does not apply to spare parts for the repair of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) placed on the market before 1 July 2006.

Neither does it apply to replacement components that expand the capacity of and/or upgrade EEE placed on the market before 1 July 2006.

The following exemptions to RoHS are listed in the Directive and the EU is considering further requests. Lack of a technically viable alternative is the main justification for exemption.


Main exemptions include:

Mercury
  • the supplier of this product has stated that it contains one or more of the restricted
    substances in concentrations above that permitted by the RoHS Directive
  • in compact fluorescent lamps not exceeding 5 mg per lamp
  • in straight fluorescent lamps for general purposes not exceeding:
    • halophosphate 10mg
    • triphosphate with normal lifetime 5mg
    • triphosphate with long lifetime 8mg
  • in straight fluorescent lamps for special purposes
  • in other lamps not specifically mentioned in the Annex to the RoHS Directive
Lead
  • in glass of CRTs, electronic components and fluorescent tubes
  • as an alloying element in steel containing up to 0.35% lead by weight, aluminium
    containing up to 0.4% lead
  • as a copper alloy containing up to 4% lead by weight
  • in high melting temperature type solders (eg tin-lead solder alloys containing more than 85% lead)
  • in solders for servers, storage and storage array systems (exemption granted until 2010)
  • in solders for network infrastructure equipment for switching, signalling, transmission as well as network management for telecommunication
  • in electronic ceramic parts (e.g. piezo-electronic devices)
Cadmium plating
except for applications banned under Directive 91/338/EEC (1) amending Directive 76/769/EEC (2) 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.