August 2009 (09B-167)

Bulletin Summary       Lighting manufacturers and retailers should note important changes in California’s reduction of hazardous substances (RoHS) legislation that will prohibit persons from manufacturing products that do not meet requirements on or after January 1, 2010.  These requirements are part of the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act that was signed into law in October 2007. The Act bans manufacturing for sale specified general purpose lights that contain levels of hazardous substances prohibited by the European Union’s (EU) RoHS Directive.

Background

Under this California legislation, general purpose lights manufactured for sale in the state must comply with the provisions of the EU RoHS Directive (2002/95/EU), which restricts the use of certain hazardous substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in specified products.

Affected manufacturers will be required to certify that their lighting products do not contain prohibited levels of hazardous substances. Manufacturers can comply with this requirement by either providing the retailer with a certificate attesting to compliance, or by displaying the required certification on the shipping container or on the product packaging.

In addition, retailers must be able to supply, upon request of state authorities, technical documentation that attests to the product’s compliance with the requirements of the RoHS Directive.

Products Affected

For the purposes of the California requirements, “general purpose lights” include lamps, bulbs, tubes or other electric devices that provide functional illumination for indoor residential, indoor commercial, and outdoor use. A limited number of lighting types are exempt from the provisions, including specialty lighting, appliance and plant lights, and special-needs lighting for individuals with exceptional needs.

Text of Legislation

The complete text of the California Health and Safety Code incorporating the RoHS requirements for general lighting is available at: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/asm/ab_1101-1150/ab_1109_bill_20071012_chaptered.pdf

The complete text of the EU’s RoHS Directive is available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0095:EN:HTML

How Bureau Veritas Can Help

As a global leader in quality assurance solutions, Bureau Veritas offers you the ability to obtain regulatory compliance to RoHS from the product design stage through distribution. Read more…

  

Contact Information

If you have any comments and/or questions, please contact your customer service representative
or email: David.Grandin@us.bureauveritas.com

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