WEEE and RoHS: an overview

Companies selling electrical and electronic goods in the European Union must conform to the EU legislation for electrical and electronic equipments (EEE), which includes:

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which sets out the financial and other responsibilities of EEE producers with regard to the collection and recycling of waste from a broad range of EEE at their end of life.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), which bans the use of certain hazardous substances (such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and some polybrominated flame-retardants) in EEE. The WEEE and RoHS Directives lay out results that must be achieved by the European countries, but each country is free to choose the means of achieving those results when transposing European rules into national laws. Therefore, when exporting to Europe, you need to comply with national law in the country/countries you seek to export to, which may differ from country to country. Please see our section: WEEE/ROHS country-by-country information.

WEEE and RoHS Directives are complex pieces of legislation working together. In particular, their scope is linked which means they both apply to the same range of products (with some differences).

This website provides information on the scope of the Directives, implementation status and requirements for producers, the revision procedure and timeline, as well as additional information resources.

In publishing these webpages, the U.S. Department of Commerce aims to assist U.S. companies in selling electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) to Europe. To complement this information, the U.S. Department of Commerce has published a report giving an overview of WEEE and RoHS. For a copy of the report, please send an email to: lucie.mattera@trade.gov.

WEEE/RoHS webpages

The WEEE Directive is currently under the process of being revised by the EU. For detailed information on WEEE (including scope, legal documents and FAQs), please click here.

The RoHS revision has concluded, and the official text of RoHS II was released in July 2011. For detailed information on RoHS (including scope, legal documents, exemptions, and FAQs), please see our new ROHS webpage.

WEEE/RoHS country-by-country information

The EU’s WEEE and RoHS Directives are implemented in EU Member States countries by national WEEE and RoHS regulations, which differ considerably from country to country. Therefore, we strongly urge U.S. companies to get further information on WEEE and RoHS in the countries where they seek to export by clicking here.  

FYI: Countries others than EU Member States, such as Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Turkey, may have similar legislation.

Need more?

Please contact us at: Office.BrusselsEC@trade.gov

For companies seeking in-depth technical or legal assistance with compliance issues relating to WEEE and RoHS, the Commercial Service provides a list of Business Service Providers who have track records in providing multi-country solutions and services. This webpage gives also access to our list of Business Services Providers, please click here.