EU legislators to look into chemical ban

A European Parliament committee has voted to look into a future ban on the use of brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride in electronics equipment, a ban that major IT companies have been pushing for.

The parliament's Environment Committee made the recommendation in a proposed revision to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, which was approved on Wednesday with 55 votes in favour, one against and two abstentions.

"We know that substances such as halogenated flame retardants, PVC and phthalates can cause serious health and environmental problems during the treatment of electrical and electronic waste. This should be the first step in phasing them out," Jill Evans, the UK Green MEP guiding the legislation through the parliament, said in a statement.

Last month Dell, Acer, HP and Sony Ericsson, along with the non-profit environmental group ChemSec, Clean Production Action and the European Environmental Bureau, joined forces to call for a ban to be incorporated into the RoHS revision.

The IT companies supporting the ban are in the process of removing brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic from their products, and a ban would require their competitors and producers in their supply chain to do the same.

ChemSec said while it welcomed some of the report's recommendations, the committee should have taken stronger action on BFRs and PVC.

"In the vote, the committee rejected proposals from the rapporteur [Evans] to include BFRs and PVC on the RoHS list of restricted substances," the group said in a statement. "The failure of MEPs to introduce new restrictions on brominated flame retardants and PVC plastic is a disappointment and a missed opportunity."

ChemSec said BFRs — used to prevent fire spreading — and PVC — used as an insulator — have the potential to transform into dioxins when incinerated at insufficiently high temperatures. "Dioxins are some of the most hazardous compounds created by man, with far-reaching health effects such as hormone disruption, cancer and birth defects," the environmental group said.

A spokeswoman for Evans' office said that in the discussions leading up to Wednesday's vote it became apparent that there was no majority for PVC and BFRs to be covered by an RoHS ban.

"Mrs Evans therefore decided to try to achieve a compromise by suggesting that these substances instead be highlighted in an annex for further review," the spokeswoman told ZDNet UK. "This course of action was adopted by the Environment Committee yesterday and will mean that there will be pressure on the industry to phase out the use of these substances in their products in anticipation of a future ban."

MEPs from organisations such as the European People's Party had opposed any new ban, arguing it was unwise to create new demands on manufacturers during a period of economic crisis.

The European Commission is responsible for overseeing the consideration of substances for restriction under RoHS, but substances can be proposed by the European Parliament or EU member states for examination, according to the committee.

ChemSec also criticised the committee's decision to exclude renewable energy technologies from RoHS, a measure that would have aimed to encourage development in the renewables sector.

"We fully support transitions into renewable energies; however many solar technologies make use of highly problematic chemicals, such as cadmium," said ChemSec senior advisor Nardono Nimpuno in a statement. "This is an unfortunate case where energy and use of toxics are traded against each other."

The European Parliament committee also agreed to shift RoHS to an 'open scope' approach, meaning it will apply to all electronic equipment unless specifically excluded. It also agreed to introduce new procedures for the consideration of products. The 'open scope' approach provides more legal clarity than current rules, which only apply to products that are specifically listed, the committee said.

The European Parliament is scheduled to vote in July on the Environment Committee's recommendations. In addition, the parliament's enviroment committee is scheduled to vote on proposed revisions to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive later in June, with an parliamentary vote on the committee's decision to follow in July.

The current version of WEEE, designed to put the financial burden for recycling old technology on suppliers and manufacturers rather than all taxpayers, came into force in the UK in July 2007, two years later than planned.