[sdiy] Eu might be banning Vactrols and LDRs??

[Ben Stuyts]

Dan,

On 11 sep 2009, at 00:11, Dan Snazelle wrote:

> I called silonex and perkinelmer (vactrol people)
>
> perkinelmer told me straight up that as of now, it is NOT looking  
> good.
>
> when I told them that I was hoping/planning on selling products in  
> the EU that use vactrols, they basically told me they would get back  
> to me.
>
> this really is terrible as now i need to re-design two things in  
> time for NAMM!
>
> has anyone here ever gotten an exemption from the EU?
>
> someone told me that METASONIX got an exemption.
>
> someone else told me it was near impossible and costs lots of money.
>
> i am in a position where i need to figure out QUICK if i should keep  
> using these things.

Those Perkin Elmer Vactrols are not ROHS, so you were not allowed to  
sell them in the EU in new equipment anyway. And that has been so  
since July 2006. So if you're planning to sell equipment in the EU  
better go through your parts list and make sure everything is ROHS.  
There are exemptions, but not for the electronic music industry as far  
as I know. (Although I think pipe organs got an exemption in the  
end. :-) )

The vactrols themselves can still be sold though. You are allowed to  
use them as a spare part for fixing pre-ROHS equipment for example. It  
is however a question whether this is a big enough market to continue  
manufacturing these devices.

Ben