WEEE and RoHS Directives

Overview
Honeywell is working with customers, suppliers and third parties to achieve compliance with WEEE and RoHS Directives where applicable. Dedicated business and project teams have been established to manage the compliance process.

The WEEE Directive requires producers to pay for electronic and electrical equipment recycling and it covers a broad range of electronic and electrical products from PCs to power tools, DVDs to digital cameras and from electric toothbrushes to toys. The WEEE Directive aims to divert waste electronics from going into landfills and to encourage eco-design, reuse and recycling through producer responsibility. The WEEE Directive applies to standalone products. These are products that can function entirely on their own and are not a part of another system or piece of equipment. Honeywell Sensing and Control has almost no products that fit this category.

A sister directive to WEEE, the RoHS Directive bans the presence of specified hazardous substances in certain electronic and electrical equipment placed on the EU market after July 1, 2006. The RoHS Directive ensures that any such new electrical and electronic equipment does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), (PBBs and PBDEs are often used as flame retardants in some plastics), unless derogation is provided for via an exemption. It should be noted that not all products Honeywell Sensing and Control makes are subject to the RoHS Directive and the RoHS Directive expresses exemptions from its substance bans for some applications.

Position Statement

It is Honeywell Sensing and Control’s objective to make all applicable products within its portfolio compliant with the RoHS Directive. Work is progressing on all affected products to complete compliance in advance of the July 1, 2006 deadline.

It is anticipated that a large majority of products will be compliant by year-end 2005. Indeed there are products already identified as compliant, exempt from or outside the scope of the RoHS Directive.

Project teams made up of supply, engineering and materials representatives are actively identifying suitable replacements for those substances banned by the RoHS Directive. Close co-operation and collaboration with our sources of supply is essential to this process in order to qualify vendors and the materials they provide.

The compliance completion dates will differ from one product family to the next.

Honeywell Sensing and Control is implementing RoHS-related changes in order to make products compliant as necessary. We expect that there will be ongoing communications about our progress and any new processes we may introduce to support RoHS Directive implementation or other environmental enhancements we may make to our products.

In the meantime, if you have specific issues, concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact Honeywell or your local sales representative.

Q. What is the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive all about?

A. WEEE is an adopted European Union directive, which is about to become national law in each EU Member State. The due date for the WEEE Directive to become part of national law is August 13, 2005. The WEEE Directive requires producers to pay for electronic and electrical equipment recycling and it covers a broad range of electronic and electrical products from PCs to power tools, DVDs to digital cameras and from electric toothbrushes to toys. The WEEE Directive aims to divert waste electronics from going into landfills and to encourage eco-design, reuse and recycling through producer responsibility. By August 13, 2005, producer responsibility schemes must be established in each Member State to take back and recycle electronic waste.

Q. What is the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) Directive about?

A. A sister directive to WEEE, the RoHS Directive bans the presence of specified hazardous substances in certain electronic and electrical equipment placed on the EU market after July 1, 2006. The RoHS Directive ensures that any such new electrical and electronic equipment does not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) (PBBs and PBDEs are often used as flame retardants in some plastics), unless derogation is provided for via an exemption. It should be noted that not all products Honeywell Sensing and Control makes are subject to the RoHS Directive and the RoHS Directive expresses exemptions from its substance bans for some applications. These exemptions are specifically listed in the Annex of the RoHS Directive.

Q. Does the WEEE Directive apply to any Honeywell Sensing and Control products?

A. The WEEE Directive applies to standalone products. These are products that can function entirely on their own and are not a part of another system or piece of equipment. Simple examples are microwave ovens, refrigerators, etc. Honeywell Sensing and Control has very few products that fit this category.

Q. How long has Honeywell Sensing and Control been working towards RoHS Directive compliance?

A. Our RoHS Directive compliance programme began in 2003.

Q. When does Honeywell Sensing and Control expect to have all products compliant with the RoHS Directive?

A. Honeywell Sensing and Control aims to make all products RoHS Directive compliant in advance of the July 1, 2006 deadline. It is anticipated that a large majority of products will be compliant by year-end 2005; although compliance completion dates will differ from one product family to another.

Q. Are any products compliant to date?

A. Yes. Certain products are already compliant with the RoHS Directive as they do not contain any of the six hazardous substances per the guidelines of the RoHS Directive. Additionally, other products have become compliant since our compliance programme began in 2003 or, in the case of new products, were compliant upon release.

Q. Are any products exempt?

A. Yes. The RoHS Directive grants exemptions from its substance bans for electrical and electronic equipment exempted by the WEEE Directive. One example of this would be military equipment. Components manufactured by Honeywell Sensing and Control for use in military equipment are currently exempt from the RoHS Directive. Some exemptions may not be permanent and some are scheduled for review at a future date. Components sold into military equipment applications will not be made RoHS Directive compliant.

Q. Are any Sensing and Control products outside the scope of the WEEE directive?

A. Yes. Products used in some applications governed by other existing European directives are considered out-of-scope. An example would be products used exclusively in automotive-on-board applications. The End-of-Life Vehicles Directive would apply in this instance.

Q. How are RoHS compliant products identified by Honeywell Sensing and Control?

A. Honeywell Sensing and Control product part numbers remain unchanged. Instead the product date code is used to denote manufacturing compliance to the RoHS Directive. ICOM system customers may access a product database to determine the RoHS status of a particular part number or make a request via Customer Care or local Honeywell sales representative.