On October 25, 2021, a draft to amend TR EAEU 037/2016 "On restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment" was published on the EAEU website. The Technical Regulation set minimum requirements for the safety of products during the EAC Certification, EAC Declaration or state registration. The public discussion of the project is planned for the period from November 19, 2021 to January 21, 2022.
The changes serve to clarify and specify the provisions of the set of rules with regard to the expansion of the area of application with regard to measuring devices, chemical power sources and exceptions in the area of application. With the new version of the technical regulation, the requirements for the nomenclature of hazardous substances and the limitation of their content in electrical and electronic equipment are updated.
An important addition will be the inclusion of requirements for the disposal of products that have lost their consumer properties due to physical wear and tear or obsolescence. This supplement was created on the basis of the European Directive 012/19 / EU (WEEE-2).
Scope of the TRs EAEU 037/2016
The exemptions from the scope of the regulation are set out in the prepared draft. This applies, for example, to photovoltaic modules (solar modules) that are part of electrical and electronic equipment. The regulation does not apply to products intended for systems that are designed, assembled and installed by professionals for permanent use in a specific location in order to generate energy from sunlight for government, commercial, industrial and private energy consumers.
The technical regulations are not used for used electrical and electronic equipment with regard to the requirements of their appendices No. 2 (a list of hazardous substances whose content in electrical and electronic equipment exceeds the permissible concentration in homogeneous materials) and No. 3 (special requirements to limit the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment) apply.
The draft also provides for additions to the list of products that are not covered by the regulations:
- large stationary production plants
- large stationary installations
- replacement and / or components of an electrical and electronic device contained in Appendix No. 1
In the drafts, the definitions of the newly introduced terms are given, which are added to the existing terms and listed in Appendix No. 6. In the new edition, the list of technical objects of TRs EAEU 037/2016 from Appendix No. 1 is reproduced. This means that the clarification on the household purpose of electrical appliances and devices according to sentence 1 is no longer applicable; a new section 13 is added which includes other products and components and accessories for the products in the list.
The list of dangerous substances, the content of which in electrical and radio electronic products exceeds the permissible concentration in homogeneous materials
The list in Appendix No. 2 is supplemented by 4 new standardized indicators of dangerous substances:
- Diethylhexyl phthalate
- Butyl benzyl phthalate
- Dibutyl phthalate
- Diisobutyl phthalate
The permissible value for all four indicators is no more than 0.1 percent by weight.
In addition, some items in the list of special requirements for limiting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (Appendix No. 3) are amended and supplemented. For example, the lead content in steel, including galvanized steel, in an amount of no more than 0.35% may only be for 3 years from the date on which the changes in EAEU TR 037/2016 come into force. After that, the requirements of § 7 of the regulations must be met.
Requirements for the disposal of electrical and electronic products
A large number of new terms that are anchored in the draft amendment of TR EAEU 037/2016 relate specifically to the disposal of electrical and electronic equipment. The following terms are added: "Waste from electrical and electronic equipment", "Labeling with symbol for separate waste collection", "Best available technologies" (concerns the collection, storage, transport, processing, disposal, neutralization, placement, disposal of waste from in electrical and electronic equipment), "Recycling of waste from in electrical and electronic equipment", "Extended producer responsibility", "Handling of waste from electrical and electronic equipment", "Symbol of separate waste collection" and "Authority in the area of administration of Waste from electrical and electronic equipment ”.
The label for separate waste collection must be affixed to the product or the packaging and indicated in the accompanying operating documents. The license plate must have a minimum height of 7 mm.
Operating instructions for electrical and electronic equipment should also be supplemented with binding information:
- A product that has lost its functional properties should not be disposed of with unsorted solid household waste, but should be collected separately from other waste
- Information on the possible harmful effects of hazardous substances contained in electrical and electronic equipment on human health and the state of the environment
- A product should be recycled when it is not in use in order to avoid damage to the environment
A separate Appendix No. 4 will appear in the regulations on the requirements for the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment.
Compliance with the specified requirements for the disposal of products is checked within the framework of state supervision.
Changes to the EAEU TR 037/2016 come into force after 180 days from the date of the official publication of the decision of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Union.
