Large Household Appliances; Small Household Appliances; IT and telecommunication equipment; Consumer Equipment; Lighting Equipment; Electrical and Electronic Tools;Toys, leisure and sports equipment, and Automatic dispensers.
With two others being exempted:
Medical Devices and Monitoring and Control Equipment.
It was previously thought that lighting desks and dimmer racks came under the fifth category of 'lighting equipment' and the scope of the exempted 'Monitoring and Control Equipment' category has been unclear in the past. However, PLASA (the Professional Lighting and Sound Association) has now received confirmation from the National Weights and Measures Laboratory - the unit enforcing RoHS in the UK - that lighting control desks and dimmer racks fall within the scope of this temporarily exempted category, and not the fifth category of 'lighting equipment'.
However, manufacturers should be aware that this exemption is temporary and is dependant on the results of a commissioned study for the EU due to be published in mid-2006. As such, if you are a manufacturer of lighting desks or dimmer racks and can provide compelling reasons to support this exemption beyond July 2006 then you should send them into the Technical Resources Office at PLASA, post haste.
Your best stance is to take this as a temporary reprieve to the date of compliance. Remaining un-compliant may have commercial implications with your customers who may demand compliant equipment, despite any approved exemptions.
(Nic Bowker)
