World Trade Organization
	G/TBT/N/EEC/313 8 February 2010
	(10-0693)
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade	Original: English

NOTIFICATION

The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6

1.	Member to Agreement notifying: European UNION If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):
2.	Agency responsible: European Commission Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, email and website addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above: European Commission EU-TBT Enquiry Point Fax: +(32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu Website: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/
3.	Notified under Article 2.9.2 [ X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:
4.	Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): Electric and electronic equipment as defined under Article 3(a) of Directive 2002/95/EC.
5.	Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Draft Commission Decision amending, for the purposes of adapting to scientific and technical progress, the Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards exemptions for applications containing lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (11 pages, in English).
6.	Description of content: Through this draft Commission Decision, having carried out the requisite technical and scientific assessment, the Commission proposes to review exemptions added in the Annex to Directive 2002/95/EC through successive amendments since the entry into force of the substance ban (1 July 2006).
7.	Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: The draft Decision aims to adapt Directive 2002/95/EC to technical and scientific progress. According to Directive 2002/95/EC exemptions from the substance ban laid down in Article 4(1) of that Directive can be granted by the Commission when the elimination of substances from certain applications is technically or scientifically impracticable. The Commission has the obligation to review those exemptions at least every four years, with the purpose of deleting them, where substitution of substances in those applications has become practicable.
8.	Relevant documents: Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, OJEU L37 of 13 February 2003, p. 19 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2003:037:0019:0023:EN:PDF Relevant successive amendments: Commission Decisions 2005/618/EC, 2005/717/EC, 2005/747/EC, 2006/310/EC, 2006/690/EC, 2006/691/EC 2006/692/EC, 2008/385/EC, 2009/428/EC, and 2009/443/EC. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/legis_en.htm
9.	Proposed date of adoption: Proposed date of entry into force:	}	June 2010
10.	Final date for comments: 60 days from date of notification.
11.	Text available from: National enquiry point [  ], or address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body: European Commission EU-TBT Enquiry Point Fax: + (32) 2 299 80 43 E-mail: ec-tbt@ec.europa.eu The text is available on the EU-TBT Website : http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tbt/ And can also be downloaded here: http://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2010/tbt/eec/10_0491_00_e.pdf