Copyright Levies

What role copyrights play for your products

Although hardly realized in public, manufacturers, importers and online vendors of IT/CE devices and storage media are subject to paying copyright levies on the basis of the European directive 2001/29/EG. In contrast to other product-related compliance legislations, CL rules show vivid dynamics and numerous changes in the many countries where they have been implemented. Reasons are ongoing tariff-negotiations, pending law suits and technological changes with impacts on functions and tariffs.
Our services yield an overview of the diverse legal situations within the European Union and beyond. We analyze your situation individually and offer a far-reaching takeover of your compliance efforts.

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REACH

How to manage qualities and risks of chemicals

The EU REACH Regulation of 2006 intends to protect human health and the environment from the risks associated with the manufacturing, use and disposal of chemicals. REACH applies to all chemical substances from consumer to industrial usage and includes chemicals used in numerous industries like IT, automotive, and manufacturing. As a consequence, the regulation impacts the majority of companies across the EU. Through adequate control of chemicals throughout their complete life-cycle, REACH aims to mitigate the risks associated with their use.

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RoHS

What must not be used in electrical and electronic devices any more

The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive if the EU bans hazardous substances from use in electrical and electronic devices. In its recent version – RoHS 2011/65/EU – and pursuant amendments a range of metals and their compounds are subject to substance bans (cadmium, lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium), flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)), since July 2019 also the softening agents di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). With a few exemptions, all of these substances must no longer be used in electrical and electronic devices sold in the EU. Meanwhile, similar laws have been passed in many industry countries.

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Ecodesign

Focus on sustainable products

Questions of saving resources and CO²-emissions are moving closer into the focus of product design and consumer preferences, aiming at a higher awareness of sustainability and circular economy.
With respect to electronic and IT devices, legislations no longer focus on energy efficiency only. Substance restrictions, availability of software and spare parts as well as information on repair maintenance play an ever more important role.
The legal framework has been in place for a long time: in form of Directive 2009/125/EG as well as Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 for labelling energy consumption. By passing the Circular Economy Action Plan 2020, the EU Commission has strengthened her demand for more sustainable electronic and IT devices. Meanwhile, in many countries outside the EU legal rules have been established, often using EU laws as their basis of legislation.

Conflict minerals

More than environmental challenges: politics and crime

The Conflict Mineral legal frameworks is intended to support the international efforts to reduce trading in minerals sourced from conflict areas (called ‘conflict minerals’). It primarily requires companies that buy products containing Tin, Tungsten, Tantalum or Gold (often called as 3TG) to report on the procurement source of these minerals.
In 2010, the US Congress passed the ‘Dodd-Frank Act’, with rules requiring SEC listed companies to disclose whether they use conflict minerals in their products. They need to declare this by determining whether any level in their supply chain utilized minerals which originated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the adjoining countries. Additionally, starting January 2021, a new law applies across the EU – the ‘Conflict Minerals Regulation (EU) 2017/821’, to check if the imports into EU are from a responsible supply chain of minerals and not from conflict-affected and high-risk areas.