WEEE & RoHS Scope

By far the most frequent question asked about WEEE and RoHS is, "Is my product covered?".  In this regard there are some important things to keep in mind:

• Neither the European Commission, nor in theory any European national government or enforcement authority is completely free to make determinations of the scope of coverage of WEEE or RoHS regulations. This is a power reserved for national and European courts. In practice, what this means is that the most attention should be paid to national authorities in the countries where you are selling, and that the opinions of these authorities and indeed the national legislation may be appealed via the courts. In the absence of clear guidance on scope from national authorities, U.S. companies may wish to obtain non-binding guidance from the European Commission.
• The legal bases of the WEEE and RoHS Directives are important to understand the scope. These are derived from the EU's treaties. The WEEE Directive's scope is indicative, since Member States are free under its legal basis to increase that scope. By contrast, the RoHS Directive's scope is based on an EU treaty article that calls for uniform implementation. In theory therefore, RoHS scope should be consistent across the EU. However a problem arises because the RoHS Directive defines its (uniform) scope as being drawn from the (indicative) scope of the WEEE Directive.
• The question of the relationship between WEEE and RoHS scope is being addressed in the upcoming review of WEEE and RoHS, and should be cleared up by the time that process is concluded.

This issue is addressed on our FAQ pages:

For our RoHS Frequently Asked Questions, click here.

For our WEEE Frequently Asked Questions, click here.

Click here for guidance on scope from the European Commission in its FAQ.

Click here for a guide on WEEE & RoHS scope from Orgalime (the European Engineering Industry Association)

RoHS Scope Only

RoHS Scope Guidance

A group of EU country RoHS authorities has published guidance on interpretation of RoHS scope. This is not an official EU document but should nevertheless be regarded as the most authoritative guidance on the subject.

Country Information

Don't forget! The EU's WEEE and RoHS Directives are implemented in EU countries by national WEEE and RoHS regulations. These vary considerably from country to country. We therefore strongly urge U.S. companies to get further information on WEEE and RoHS in the countries that interest them by clicking here.

Need More?

For futher information and assistance, click here.