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EU: European Commission Adopted New RoHS Exemption for Cadmium and Lead in Plastic Profiles in Electrical and Electronic Windows and Doors Containing Recovered Rigid PVC

JANUARY 2024 - ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS

The European Commission (EC) has adopted an amendment¹ to the RoHS Directive, granting a new exemption for cadmium and lead in plastic profiles in electrical and electronic windows and doors containing recovered rigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This legal text will enter into force on 30 January 2024.

Using recycled PVC offers environmental benefits compared to virgin PVC. Recycled PVC requires less energy and resources to produce. While lead- and cadmium-free virgin PVC is available, the environmental advantages of recycling outweigh the presence of these metals in recovered PVC.

Moreover, the scope of this exemption has been aligned with the derogation for lead in recovered PVC set out under REACH Annex XVII, entry 63 regarding lead in PVC². Hence, the EC has granted this exemption for category 11 of Annex I to the RoHS Directive. Table A  details of the exemption. 

Table A. Newly added entry 46 in Annex III of the RoHS Directive

[1] Directive (EU) 2024/232 

[2] Regulation (EU) 2023/923 amendment of REACH Annex XVII entry 63 regarding lead in PVC

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