Restrictions on cadmium temporarily eased in REACH

With the publication of the regulation 835/2012 on September 18, 2012, the Annex XVII of the REACH regulation has been changed on restrictions of cadmium. After implementation of the regulation 494/2011 last year, the use of cadmium has been restricted in several synthetic organic polymers and copolymers. Afterwards, it has been detected that in some cases, no feasible substitute was available. Therefore, the restriction of cadmium in Annex XVII number 23 has been changed retrospectively from December 2011 to the former version. Until November 19 this year, ECHA will be asked to prepare a dossier according to Annex XV relating to the use of cadmium and its compounds that have been restricted by the regulation 494/2011 before. After evaluation of this dossier, a revised process for restrictions of cadmium and its compounds could be initiated.

Snapshot IFA 2012: Tablet Rise Continues

IFA 2012 in Berlin, the World’s leading trade show for Consumer Electronics and Home Appliances strongly confirmed the increasing popularity of the tablet device: Even several of those suppliers who  do not even offer PCs on the market presented their own tablet device and/or e-reader. Meanwhile, almost every supplier of the consumer electronics industry has established such a device in its product range. This may be due to the fact that tablets are becoming popular for business applications as well as for private end-customers.

The global market for tablets and e.g. e-readers is growing continuously and leads to high revenues. Therefore, expectations rise from different sides: Based on the higher sales volumes, collecting societies put their focus more and more on tablet PCs in order to cover products with new technologies with copyright levies. The question, however, in which product categories these new devices fall and which tariff is appropriate still waits for an answer. There are only few countries which have defined a tariff for tablets. But many more are in negotiations at the moment whether tablets can be added to an already existing product category. In addition, technical issues are discussed, e.g. on which characteristics the tariff shall be based and how further technical developments and improvements will be handled. The tablet PC is a very good proof to show how technologies develop faster than tariffs can. This situation causes uncertainties in the market and requires intensive negotiation between collecting societies and industry. Therefore, K&L recommends that companies concerned monitor the developments precisely in order to gain legal certainty and to set up financial plans.

ECHA publishes additional information from registration dossiers soon

Based on a re-interpretation of the scope of article 119 REACH, further information from the registration dossiers will be published on ECHA’s website (European Chemicals Agency) and the registration database from November 2012. The additional information will be: •    Name of company (out of REACH –IT) •    Registration number •    Generic exposure potential •    Whether a CSA was performed •    Name, address and phone number of  the contact person • _ responsible for the safety data sheet •    PBT assessment Companies who have not claimed confidentiality for their dossier yet can upload an updated registration dossier until October 31 including confidentiality claims. Dossiers submitted by Only Representatives (OR) have several options, which entities will be shown in the database (OR, Importer). For acceptance by ECHA, the claims have to be well justified and a fee has to be paid.

List of Registry of intention for svhc substances is rapidly growing

Again, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has included 38 substances in the list of registry of intentions for substances of very high concern (svhc). http://echa.europa.eu/registry-of-current-svhc-intentions The dossiers according to Annex XV of the REACH regulation that identify the hazardous properties of the substances are all expected for end of August. The list of svhc, also known as candidate list currently contains 84 substances and has grown in compact steps over the last years and is far behind the first expectations of round about 200 substances until 2012. A rapidly growing candidate list puts enormous pressure on suppliers of articles as the information duty according to article 33 applies right after the publication of the new svhc in the list.

Copyright Levy legislations – a dynamic field

K&L’s copyright levies consulting services are based on a comprehensive and up-to-date database of legal provisions in 71 countries worldwide. In our database we compile all relevant data, including also special topics and requirements like reporting procedure, professional use, export, refunding of levies and many more. We continuously monitor any development of Copyright Levies and are one of the first ones to learn about changes. As product innovations and new technologies constantly demand these changes and adjustments of national regulations, it is indispensable to stay on track at any time. Have a look at our blog from 27 April 2012 “Many changes in European Copyright Levy legislation”, where we introduced our empirical survey. Within K&L’s database over a period of less than 18 months from 2010-2011 – nearly 800 single line items changed. This number refers to either an amendment of tariff (new and/or higher tariff), a new product categorization, a new calculation basis for tariffing, or even to the fact that a tariff has been abolished. Apart from the recently analysed and focused EU-countries, there have been also many amendments of copyright levies in Non-EU countries.

New tariff claims for USB-sticks and memory cards in Germany

In spring this year, the Central Agency for Private Copying Rights (ZPÜ) published new tariff claims for USB-sticks and memory cards. The tariffs should have come into force on 1 July 2012. However, the claims are even higher than the previously agreed tariffs. In the past, this kind of equipment has already been levied with amounts from 0.10 € (0.08 €, discounted tariff). The new claims of the collecting society are considerably high: between 0.90 € up to nearly 2.00 €. These amounts are not fixed right now and could still change, as negotiations with industry association have been announced. Manufacturers and distributors who may be affected by these claims, should request information and consulting from experts, because at the moment a reintroduction of these levies, including their retrospective payment, seems to be very likely.

Energy Efficiency / Energy Labelling: LOCAL SPACE HEATERS in Consultation Forum

After the pre-studies have been finalized, the working program for Local Space heaters (LSH), a combination of lot 15 (Solid fuel small combustion installations) and lot 20 (Local room heating products) is available. On September 20, 2012 a consultation forum will take place in Brussels in order to discuss the requirements for Eco-design and eco-labelling for those devices. LSH means a space heating device that converts electricity, gaseous, liquid or solid fuels directly into heat in order to provide heating comfort in the space it is situated. This means that devices such as fan heaters as well as stoves are covered in this working program. The working program provides the basic information and recommendations for an upcoming legislation. In cooperation with the regulatory committee, the implementing measure will be drafted and sent to the European Parliament for scrutiny. After publication and coming into force, transition periods for manufacturers of products in the scope are granted in order to comply with the eco-design and eco-labelling requirements.

K&L is now offering its service portfolio in French language

Under www.kl-cc.de/fr the information about K&L and all service descriptions are available in French, alongside with German, English and Italian. With this additional language option, K&L takes into account an increasing number of projects in all working areas of K&L with customers from French-speaking countries. Furthermore, K&L reacts to the fact that some of our big customers and partners are headquartered in Canada or have their European headquarter in France, Belgium or Luxembourg.

Corrigendum of RoHS directive, German Version

On August 4, article 15 of the German version of the RoHS directive 2011/65/EU was corrected. Before the correction, article 15, German Version, offered the possibility to either affix the CE mark to the packaging OR to accompanying documents in case that it is not possible on the device. This mistake has now been corrected and the word “OR” has been changed into “AND” and therefore is in accordance with the English Version. Although it is just one word, this little change has already consequences as the first draft of the implementation into German national legislation was based on this text. As the national legislation of the RoHS directive has to be implemented until January 2, 2013 there is still enough time left for correction of the draft, too.

K&L is participating as co-author for REACH manual

Hans-Jochen Lückefett, Lawyer and Managing Director of K&L as well as Eva Hink, Consultant and Project Manager for REACH, contributed as co-authors to the REACH Manual, published by Forum Verlag with their expertise. The sanctions according to the REACH regulation have been explained in the eddition that was issued in June 2012. For the next edition, that is foreseen to be published in September this year, the intersection of the REACH regulation and the New product safety legislation will be examined. We are looking forward to further participation for the REACH manual and sharing of our practical experience with the readers.