(26/06/06) Giftige TV's en computers moeten uit de Europese winkelrekken

• 2006-06-26

Alle elektrische apparaten die de vlamvertrager DecaBDE gebruiken moeten zo snel mogelijk uit de Europese winkelrekken. Dat heeft de Europese Commissie beslist. De Europese Groenen juichen deze beslissing toe en spreken van een succes voor de consumenten en het milieu. De beslissing is welkom omdat het EP een volledige ban van deze stof heeft gevraagd. De lobby van de broomindustrie vroeg en kreeg een uitzondering om DecaBDE te blijven gebruiken, ook al zijn er veiliger alternatieven voorhanden. Aanvankelijk vond de sector bij de Commissie een luisterend oor. De recente beslissing van de Europese Commissie komt hen nu duur te staan. De Europese Groene Fractie hoopt nu dat dit het begin van het einde is voor de gebromineerde vlamvertragers.

Hazardous substances

Toxic TVs and computers to be banned from shop shelves this weekend



All new TVs, computers and all other electrical and electronic equipment, containing the toxic brominated flame retardant DecaBDE, will be banned for retail in the EU as of this Saturday, according to legal advice from the European Commission issued last week (1). Commenting on this development, Swedish Green MEP Carl Schlyter said:

"This is a major success for consumers and the environment across Europe and overturns the European Commission decision last year, which exempted industry from substituting this highly toxic chemical used in electrical and electronic goods. This unexpected boon is highly welcome as the European Parliament has advocated a complete ban of DecaBDE all along (2).

"While many firms phased out this harmful flame retardant, as was originally provided for in an EU law of 2003, the bromine industry has continued to lobby strongly for an exemption and seemed to have succeeded last year, when the Commission kowtowed and granted a derogation for DecaBDE. The firms that persisted using this bioaccumlative and toxic substance now have until Saturday to ensure their products are free of DecaBDE. It will prove an expensive lesson for them to learn but serves them right for putting consumers and the environment at unnecessary risk when safer alternatives exist.

"Not only is DecaBDE itself bad for the environment, its commercial mixture is normally contaminated with other harmful substances in concentrations that render the use of DecaBDE illegal. Its ban hopefully drives a nail in the coffin of the whole group of brominated flame retardants."

Editors notes

(1) From 1 July 2006, electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) must not contain polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE) above a threshold of 0.1% according to a directive on certain hazardous substances in EEE adopted in 2003. While DecaBDE was exempted by a highly contested Commission decision in October 2005, the Commission last week clarified in a letter to Member States that EEE containing NonaBDE above 0.1% would not comply with the provisions of the Directive. Since commercial DecaBDE contains around 3% of NonaBDE, and since commercial DecaBDE is normally used in concentrations in polymers between 10 and 20%, all EEE that contains DecaBDE is highly likely to exceed the legal threshold at least threefold and as such not to comply with the provisions of the RoHS Directive.

(2) The European Court of Justice is currently considering a case (C-14/06) brought by the European Parliament calling for the annulment of the Commission decision to grant an exemption for DecaBDE in 2005.