REACH: Registration Deadline on May 31, 2018: Important Hints and Considerations

In light of the upcoming registration deadline on May 31, 2018, companies that fail to register their substances under REACH are left with few options. In accordance with the principle “no data, no market” (Art. 5 REACH Regulation), it is recommended to register substances on time, when possible. Pre-registrations with compliant dossiers will become invalid and SIEFs inactive after the submission deadline (May 31^st). Registrations submitted after June 1^st will undergo more complex inquiry procedures. It is important to note that selling stocks of unregistered substances produced in, or imported into the EU/EEA before the deadline can be risky, because downstream users may not be willing to use them. However, ECHA provides assistance to registrants facing exceptional situations defined as follows:

• Lack of necessary data (on substances in mixtures, unavailability of data required in annexes VII and VIII),
• legal entity changes,
• failure of the lead registrant to complete his obligations before the deadline,
• SIEF without an EU manufacturer

For more information, please do not hesitate to contact info@1cc-consulting.com.

Vera Lebedeva: A New Team Member

Vera Lebedeva joined 1cc in January 2018 as a Consultant/Compliance Specialist with focus on REACH, RoHS and Conflict Minerals. Vera completed her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University), where she additionally learned German. In the course of studies, Vera Lebedeva spent an exchange semester in Tuebingen/Germany. After attaining her degree in Moscow, Vera decided to resume her academic career in Tuebingen, where she graduated with a Master’s degree in Political Science.

Germany Introduced Revised Copyright Law

On March 1, 2018, the new German Law on the alignment of copyright with the current requirements of the Knowledge Society (Gesetz zur Angleichung des Urheberrechts an die aktuellen Erfordernisse der Wissensgesellschaft, UrhWissG) came into force. After careful scrutiny, it became clear that the legal provisions are relevant to the compliance efforts of IT/CE manufacturers: In short, the law broadens the scope of rights to private copying, which is remunerated via copyright levies. The UrhWissG specifies the acts of copyright use in the field of education and science that are permitted without requiring the consent of authors and other right holders. This leads to the assumption that copyright fees may increase. However, there are no new or higher claims, or planned tariff adjustments other than the ones known by collecting societies. Nonetheless, the notion of higher levy claims could be adopted in the current negotiations on products by collecting societies. Negotiations are underway in Germany on copyright levies for hard disks, among other things, and the claims might go up to 34 Euro per unit. 1cc will continue to monitor developments.

Conflict Minerals: New Regulatory Proposal in the U.S.

  Many public companies in the U.S. are presently subject to disclosure requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The disclosure requirements relate to the use of conflict minerals originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. The new regulatory motion calls for the repeal of those obligations: According to Bill H.R. 4248, section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is to be deleted entirely. The respective legal proposal was referred to the Committee for Financial Services in November 2017, which presented its report to the House of Representatives in February 2018. A final decision or legislation is pending.

ECHA Published New Candidate List

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has published an update of the Candidate List under REACH on January 15, 2018: Seven new substances of very high concern (SVHC) were added to the list. For Bisphenol-A, the already existing entry was updated. The Candidate List of SVHCs for authorization now contains 181 substances. Link to ECHA´s Website: https://echa.europa.eu/de/candidate-list-table

Eurasian Economic Union RoHS will come into force on March 1, 2018: Are you compliant with its requirements?

The Technical Regulation of Eurasian Economic Union (former Customs Union) TR EEU 037/2016 „On restriction of use of hazardous substances in electric and radio-electronic equipment“ will enter into force on March 1, 2018: Its substance restrictions apply to Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) with identical thresholds as in the EU. The product scope and the list of exceptions are very similar but not identical with EU RoHS requirements. The most important differences, however, can be stated on the level of personal scope, of conformity assessment and of marking and labelling. Before a product can be placed on EEU market, it has to undergo a specific conformity assessment procedure including registration and receive a EEU conformity mark. This procedure can be initiated by producer, importer or their authorized representative subject to special requirements. You need further assistance regarding compliance with EEU TR on RoHS? Please contact us at contact@1cc-consulting.com

ECHA Published New Candidate List

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has published an update of the Candidate List under REACH on January 15, 2018: Seven new substances of very high concern (SVHC) were added to the list. For Bisphenol-A, the already existing entry was updated. The Candidate List of SVHCs for authorization now contains 181 substances. Link to ECHA´s Website: https://echa.europa.eu/de/candidate-list-table

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

We wish our customers and partners a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Instead of gifts, we donate this year to the association Paulinchen e.V., which helps children with severe burns – www.paulinchen.de Your 1cc Team

EU Directive 2017/2102 (RoHS): More Detailed Regulations for Spare Parts

As of 22 July 2019, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) falling into category 11 of EU Directive 2011/65/EU and being placed on the market before that date, can still be made available on the market according to the new Directive 2017/2102 which entered into force on December 11, 2017. This means that the respective products of category 11 (EEE which is not covered by categories 1 to 10 and which was not in scope so far) can be sold off beyond July 22, 2019. Besides, Directive 2017/2102 has revised the provisions of Directive 2011/65/EU in some relevant aspects: • reuse of spare parts • extension of exemptions from substance restrictions • adapted date of decision regarding the renewal of an exemption • duration of exemptions for devices of category 11 Regarding the reuse of spare parts, the following applies: Beginning with the date at which devices newly placed on the market must comply with the substance restrictions, spare parts may be recovered from EEE already placed on the market before and used in EEE for a transition period of 10 years. Member states have to harmonize the new Directive with their national regulations until June 12, 2019. If you are interested in getting more information in detail, please contact us contact@1cc-consulting.com

Too much revenue from copyright levies in Spain?

Since 1 August 2017 Spain’s new copyright levies system is in force. The new tariffs stated in the Royal Decree-Law 12/2017 as well as the product scope subject to copyright levies are transitory; because there are doubts about the adequacy of the levy amounts. According to the tariffs published, the new copyright system in Spain will collect between six and 10 times more than necessary – market researchers say. Copyright levies are aimed at compensating rightholders for the licence revenues they lose due to permitted private copying. Market studies ordered by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport to determine the appropriate amount for compensation for the years 2012 to 2015, carried out by independent auditors such as Mazars, KPMG and PWC, reveal a total of 51,729,168 euros during those four years. That means that the damage caused by private copying for music, audiovisual works and books, has an average of less than 13,000,000 euros per year. On the other hand, estimated sales of devices subject to a compensation reflect that the amount that will be collected annually with the new digital copyright levy is over 72 million euros. In other words, the new copyright system in Spain will collect between six and 10 times more than the damage actually caused by private copying today. If the market researchers’ assumptions are correct, companies should already be preparing, for example by setting up accruals. 1cc will be happy to advise.