Öko Institut, the consulting group commissioned by the European Commission to conduct substance specific assessments under the RoHS Directive, has recently published its final substance report dedicated to Beryllium and compounds recommending not to restrict Beryllium and compounds under RoHS. The report acknowledges the material’s strategic value for many industry sectors due to its unique combination of properties that are unmatched by any other material, and that the continued use of Beryllium in electrical and electronic equipment is beneficial to end users in terms of product performance, reliability and product lifecycle.
Although BeST fully endorses this recommendation, several inaccurate statements in the report have required the submission of specific comments in the frame of the stakeholder consultation on the published report.
In its comments, BeST clarifies the regulatory environment concerning Beryllium, including the conclusion of the Risk Management Option Analysis (RMOA) in November 2016 not to include Beryllium in the list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) under the REACH Directive, the recently adopted EU-wide worker protection standard as well the objective of voluntary product stewardship program – Be Responsible – launched by industry.
Read BeST’s comments here.
In light of this recent Öko Institut recommendation on Beryllium, designers, engineers and manufacturers can be confident that Beryllium and Beryllium-containing alloys will continue to be available to provide unique and reliable design solutions in covered electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) without additional legislative restrictions.