ElektroStoffV (Ordinance on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment)

Dear take-e-way customers, dear VERE members, 

The ElektroStoffV (Ordinance on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment)

was adopted by the Bundestag (Lower House of German Parliament) as well as by the Bundesrat (Upper House of the German Parliament). Thus, it will come into force with the publication on the Federal Law Gazette in the next few days.

The ElektroStoffV (Elektro- und Elektronikgeräte-Stoff-Verordnung) serves for the national implementation of the Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic devices. We would like to inform you beforehand about the most important points for the individual actors from our point of view:

Manufacturers are those who are producing or are having produced electrical devices on their behalf or under their own brand and who are placing them on the market. This also applies for importers and for distributors even if they modify devices significantly that where already placed in the market.

Manufacturers have to

• take care that the limit values of more than 0.1 percent by weight for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) or more than 0.01 percent by weight for cadmium are not being exceeded for each homogeneous material.
• issue an EU declaration of conformity and apply a CE marking. With the issuing of the EU declaration of conformity the manufacturer assumes the responsibility to comply with the above mentioned limit values.
• make available technical documentations.
• prove at all times the compliance with the conformity by appropriate processes.
• keep available all corresponding documents for a period of 10 years.
• make available all a. m. documents to the responsible authorities upon their request and cooperate with these authorities.

In case of suspicion that the conformity is not complied with it is necessary to immediately take any measures to reconstitute the conformity. If this is not possible, it may be necessary to recall the devices and withdraw them from the market where appropriate. In any case it is necessary to inform the authorities.

The devices have to be marked with their type, batch, serial numbers or other markings on the device or in case of need also on the packaging in order to allow their identification. This also applies for trade names or trademarks as well as an address at which the manufacturer can be contacted.

Importers have to make sure that the conformity evaluation procedure was performed before placing the product on the market, i.e.:

1. The manufacturer must have issued the technical documentation.
2. The device must be provided with the CE marking.
3. All necessary documents must be kept available for a period of 10 years.

Everyone in the delivery chain who is not a manufacturer or an importer is a distributor i.e. in most cases the retail and wholesale. They need to check in particular:

• if the device is provided with a CE marking.
• if the necessary documents are attached in German language.
• if the necessary manufacturer data are applied.

In case of suspicion of non-conformity the responsible authority has to be informed and the concerned devices have in the worst case to be taken back, where appropriate.

A representative may assume some of these tasks: He must be commissioned by the manufacturer in writing to perform certain tasks on his behalf within the Federal Republic of Germany. He can:

• be denominated as central office where the manufacturer can be contacted.
• guarantee the keeping available of the EU declaration of conformity and of the technical documentation.
• serve as contact for the responsible authorities.

Currently take-e-way is developing a service package in order to be able to perform as much tasks on your behalf acting as a representative as possible.

As soon as this ordinance has come into force we will also publish it on our website together with a comment of our advocate.

For any further questions the team of take-e-way and VERE will be at your entire disposal under the phone number +49 / 40 / 21 90 10 – 65. With this in mind we remain with

Kindest regards to our yet 2758 members and customers.

Jochen Stepp, Oliver Friedrichs and Christoph Brellinger