RoHS (again)
2006-05-26 by Mark
Sorry if this is getting boring for some of you though you all seem to be taking this in good spirit. I've spent a happy(?) hour or so going through the EU pages on this. It seems there are several request for exemptions, these include for musical instruments with a lifespan of over 10 years, and for professional audio equipment. The EU has been asking about other technical solutions, cost implications etc. Funny thing is that you get to see the letters that have come into the EU. The musical instruments one actually came from a digital church organ company. The audio exemption request is from one company only it seems. You also see complaints about people not replying, asking if they had a nice holiday, their out of office assistants, even there "this is only for the recipient" type legal statements. Such is the banality of superstate legislation. It's not faceless eurocrats, its people not replying because they've been having a nice time at the seaside. Anyway, reading the sorts of arguments people are making I think actually there is a case, certainly in spirit. As Grant has indicated there is something about volume, ie the amount of lead involved, the number of units..there is also something about it being "consumer". Looking through the list of things covered by RoHS; "1. Large household appliances 2. Small household appliances 3. IT and telecommunications equipment 4. Consumer equipment 5. Lighting equipment 6. Electrical and electronic tools (with the exception of large- scale stationary industrial tools) 7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment 8. Medical devices (with the exception of all implanted and infected products) 9. Monitoring and control instruments 10.Automatic dispensers. 11.Light bulbs, and luminaires in households" Now under "consumer equipment" musical instruments are mentioned. This breaks down as "Radio sets Television sets Video cameras Video recorders Hi-fi recorders Audio amplifiers Musical instruments And other products or equipment for the purpose of recording or reproducing sound or images, including signals or other technologies for the distribution of sound and image than by telecommunications" But I would argue when you look at the company musical instruments are in that this is disposable stuff. So professional studio equipment looks like its not really on the list, either explicit or implictly. If it is not on the list it is not exempt, but it is outside of the scope of RoHS. regards, Mark