EU - The Renewal of RoHS Exemption for the Use of Mercury in Other Low Pressure Discharge Lamps

​By Decision 2010/571/EU, the European Commission granted an exemption for the use of mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps, which is now listed as exemption 4(a) in Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU. The exemption was to expire on July 21, 2016.

On December 19, 2014 and January 15, 2015, the Commission received two applications for renewal of the exemption, of which one was updated with a renewed application on January 20, 2020. In accordance with Article 5(5) of Directive 2011/65/EU, the exemption remains valid until a decision on the renewal application has been taken.

After the evaluation, the Commission concluded that the elimination of mercury in the applications concerned or its substitution by a substance of comparable performance is currently technically impracticable. It also concluded that the current scope of the exemption can be limited to low pressure discharge lamps that are not phosphor-coated and emit light in the ultraviolet range.

Therefore, the Commission granted the renewal of the exemption, with a revised wording, setting out the limited scope of the exemption, for a maximum period of 5 years as follows:

​4(a) Mercury in other low pressure discharge lamps (per lamp): 15 mg, expires on February 24, 2023

4(a)-I Mercury in low pressure non-phosphor coated discharge lamps, where the application requires the main range of the lampspectral output to be in the ultraviolet spectrum: up to 15 mg mercury may be used per lamp​, expires ​on February 24, 2027