Green Life

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that flame retardant decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE) will be “banned” from electrical and electronic equipment from the end of June.

The European Commission (EC) had originally granted an exemption for deca-BDE from the list of banned substances under the RoHS Directive.

However, in 2006 the European Parliament and Denmark , supported by other EU

Member States, took the EC to court as they believed deca-BDE could be replaced with safer alternatives already on the market.

The ECJ has ruled that procedural errors, rather than scientific support or safety

data, has led to the annulment of the exemption that was granted in 2005.

It also believes that the EC should propose a new exemption for Deca-BDE which meets the criteria of the RoHS Directive. The court had found that the EC had used an incorrect criterion, an EU risk assessment, as the basis for the exemption.

參考資料來源：

http://www.electronicsweekly.com/blogs/electronics-legislation/ 2008/04/dec abde-ruling.html