Testing

In December 2021, the European Commission adopted the following 12 delegated acts concerning exemptions for the use of mercury in lamps. The bill will terminate a series of existing exemptions for the use of mercury in lamps. The bill will be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council. Both co-legislators have two months to either accept or reject the acts - a process which can be extended by a further two months, if needed. The committee will give relevant enterprises a transition period of 12 months and 18 months to adapt to the new rules according to the specific circumstances. For some industrial or medical special-purpose lamps, the relevant exemptions are still valid because there are not enough reliable mercury-free alternatives.

The mercury exemption clauses in Appendix III involved in the 12 authorization bills are as follows:

(1) 1 (a)-(e) - compact fluorescent lamps for general purposes

(2) 1(f) - compact fluorescent lamps for special purposes

(3) 1(g) - compact fluorescent lamps for general purposes with a lifetime equal/above 20 000

(4) 2(a) (1)-(5) - linear fluorescent lamps for general lighting purposes

(5) 2(b)(3) - linear tri-band phosphor lamps

(6) 2(b)(4) - fluorescent lamps for other general lighting and special purposes

(7) 3(a)-(c) - cold cathode fluorescent lamps and external electrode fluorescent lamps for special purposes

(8) 4 (a) - other low pressure discharge lamps

(9) 4(b) - high pressure sodium (vapour) lamps with improved colour rendering index

(10)  4(c) I-III - other high pressure sodium lamps for general lighting purposes

(11)  4 (e) - metal halide lamps

(12)  4 (f) - other discharge lamps for special purposes

AGC Note: The EU RoHS exemption clauses and exemption time will be constantly updated. The exemption is not permanent. Companies should pay attention to regulatory information in time to ensure product compliance.