Commission Decision of 11 April 2005 establishing ecological criteria and the related assessment and verification requirements for the award of the Community eco-label to personal computers (notified under document C(2005) 1024) (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/341/EC) (repealed)

6. Take-back, recycling and hazardous substances U.K.

The manufacturer shall offer free of charge the take-back for refurbishment or recycling of the product, and for any component being replaced, except for items contaminated by users (e.g. in medical or nuclear applications). In addition, the product shall meet the following criteria:

(a)

one qualified person alone shall be able to dismantle it;

(b)

the manufacturer shall check the disassembly of the product and provide a disassembly report that shall be made available to third parties on request. Amongst other items, the report shall confirm that:

• connections are easy to find and accessible,

• connections are as standardised as possible,

• connections are accessible with commonly available tools,

• the background lighting lamps of LCD monitors are easily separable;

(c)

hazardous materials shall be separable;

(d)

90 % (by weight) of the plastic and metal materials in the housing and chassis shall be technically recyclable;

(e)

if labels are required, they shall be easily separable or inherent;

(f)

plastic parts shall:

• have no lead or cadmium intentionally added,

• be of one polymer or compatible polymers, except for the cover, which shall consist of no more than two types of polymers which are separable and uncoated with, for example, paint,

• contain no metal inlays that cannot be separated by a single person using simple tools;

(g)

plastic parts shall not contain poly-brominated biphenyl (PBB) or poly-brominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants as listed in Article 4 to Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council(1). This requirement shall take account of subsequent adaptations and amendments made to that Directive regarding the use of Deca-BDE.

Plastic parts shall not contain chloroparaffin flame retardants with chain length 10‐17 carbon atoms and chlorine content greater than 50% by weight (CAS No 85535-84-8 and CAS No 85535-85-9).

The applicant shall declare compliance with this requirement to the competent body;

(h)

plastic parts heavier than 25 grams shall not contain flame retardant substances or preparations that are assigned at the time of applying for the ecolabel any of the risk phrases:

Dangerous for health

:

• R45 (may cause cancer)

• R46 (may cause heritable genetic damage)

• R60 (may impair fertility)

• R61 (may cause harm to the unborn child)

Dangerous for the environment

:

• R50 (very toxic to aquatic organisms)

• R50/R53 (very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment)

• R51/R53 (toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term adverse effects in the aquatic environment)

as defined in Council Directive 67/548/EEC(2);

(i)

plastic parts shall have a permanent marking identifying the material, in conformity with ISO 11469: 2000. Excluded from this criterion are extruded plastic materials and the light-guide of flat panel displays;

(j)

batteries shall not contain more than 0,0001 % of mercury, 0,001 % of cadmium or 0,01 % of lead by weight of the battery.

The applicant shall declare the compliance of the product with these requirements and shall provide to the competent body assessing the application a copy of the disassembly report.

With reference to criterion 6(h), the flame retardants that are used, if any, shall not have been assigned any of the above risk phrases nor shall they be named in Annex 1 to Directive 67/548/EEC or its subsequent amendments regarding the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances. This requirement does not apply to flame retardants that on application change their chemical nature to no longer warrant classification under any of the R-phrases listed above, and where less than 0,1 % of the flame retardant in the treated part remains in the form as before application. Any flame retardants that are used in plastic parts >25g must be specified in the application documentation by giving their name and CAS number.

(1)

OJ L 37, 13.2.2003, p. 19.

(2)

OJ L 196, 16.8.1967, p. 1.