EdLaw
RoHS Directive (Directive 2011/65/EU, "RoHS 2")
The CE-marking directive restricting hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), published in the Official Journal on 1 July 2011 (OJ L 174, 1.7.2011, p. 88), in force since 21 July 2011, transposition due by 2 January 2013 (Art. 25, not extracted; see Sources). This folder reproduces the consolidated text 02011L0065-20260701 — RoHS is amended constantly by delegated directives adjusting the exemption annexes, which is why the consolidation id must be re-pinned on rebuild.
EEE is any equipment "dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly" up to 1 000 V AC / 1 500 V DC (Art. 3(1)); the scope is effectively open — the Directive applies to EEE in the Annex I categories (Art. 2(1)), and category 11 is the catch-all "Other EEE not covered by any of the categories above".
Applicability to EdTech
- Headsets, chargers, docks and accessories are all EEE — every homogeneous material in them must stay under the Annex II maxima: lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE, DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP at 0,1 %; cadmium at 0,01 % (Art. 4(1)). "Homogeneous material" — the denominator — is defined at Art. 3(20).
- Cables and spare parts are expressly included (Art. 4(1)).
- Exemptions are application-specific and time-limited (Annexes III/IV, granted and reviewed under Arts. 5–6); supplier declarations citing an exemption must name the entry — the lists themselves are consulted on EUR-Lex, not reproduced here.
- RoHS conformity is part of the CE marking: EU declaration of conformity (Art. 13), CE marking (Arts. 14–15), and the EN IEC 63000 documentation route gives the presumption via harmonised standards (Art. 16).
Contents
| Document | Covers |
|---|---|
| SCOPE-AND-DEFINITIONS.md | Arts. 1–3; Annex I — scope, exclusions, definitions, EEE categories |
| SUBSTANCE-RESTRICTIONS.md | Arts. 4–6; Annex II — the prevention duty, the ten restricted substances, exemption machinery |
| OPERATOR-OBLIGATIONS-AND-CE.md | Arts. 7, 13–16, 23 — manufacturer obligations, EU declaration, CE marking, presumption, penalties |
Scope note: authorised representatives/importers/distributors (Arts. 8–12), market surveillance (Art. 18), committee/delegation machinery (Arts. 19–22) and the exemption Annexes III–VIII can be added with the same tooling when needed.
Key obligations at a glance
- No placing on the market of EEE containing the Annex II substances above the maxima, per homogeneous material (Art. 4(1)).
- Manufacturers: internal production control per Module A of Decision 768/2008/EC, technical documentation, EU declaration, CE marking, 10-year record-keeping (Art. 7, Art. 13).
Enforcement
National market surveillance (Art. 18 — not extracted); national penalties must be "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" (Art. 23).
Related
- Product-safety cluster index
- WEEE Directive — the end-of-life companion: RoHS restricts what goes in, WEEE governs what comes out
Sources
Meta
Article and annex text in the content documents is reproduced verbatim from the EUR-Lex consolidated text (CELEX 02011L0065-20260701) and built/re-verified mechanically by tools/eur-lex/build_eu_product_safety.py (verify mode; do not hand-edit; adopt new consolidation ids deliberately — RoHS consolidations move often). Anchors: official ELI ids plus derived paragraph/point anchors from printed labels. The EN IEC 63000 mention in "Applicability" is the standard commonly OJ-listed for the Art. 16 presumption — verify the current OJ listing when it matters; it is not extracted here.