The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Czech Republic informs on another amendment of the Decree No. 481/2012 “On the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment”.

The Government Regulation No. 344/2020 dated by July 27, 2020 is the second amendment of the Government Decree No. 481/2012 in this year. The Regulation was issued to implement the provisions of the series of EU Directives with regards to the exemption from the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.  

Thus, the national Regulation No. 344/2020 of Czech Republic takes in consideration the following EU Directives:

• Directive (EU) 2020/366 with regards to the  the exemption for use of lead as a thermal stabiliser in polyvinyl chloride used in certain in-vitro diagnostic medical devices for the analysis of blood and other body fluids and body gases;  
• Directive (EU) 2020/360 with regards to the  the exemption for use of  lead in platinized platinum electrodes used for certain conductivity measurements;  
• Directive (EU) 2020/361 with regards to the  the exemption for use of hexavalent chromium as an anticorrosion agent of the carbon steel cooling system in absorption refrigerators;  
• Directive (EU) 2020/365 with regard to the  the exemption for use of lead in solders and termination finishes used in certain hand-held combustion engines  
• Directive (EU) 2020/364 with regard the exemption for the use of cadmium in certain radiation tolerant video camera tubes

According to the Government Decree No. 481/2012  Annexes II and III were amended with regards to the following substances:

1. Annex II

• Item 9: Hexavalent chromium as an anti-corrosion agent of the carbon steel cooling system in absorption refrigerators up to 0,75 % by weight in the cooling solution.  
• Item 9 a I and a II: Hexavalent chromium up to 0,75% by weight, used as anti-corrosion agent in the cooling solution of carbon steel cooling systems in absorption refrigerators.  
• Item 41: Lead in solders and termination finishes of electrical and electronic components and finishes of printed circuit boards used in ignition modules and other electrical and electronic engine control systems, which for technical reasons must be mounted directly on or in the crankcase or cylinder of hand-held combustion engines  

2. Annex III

• Item 37: Lead in platinized platinum electrodes used for conductivity measurements  
• Item 41: Lead as a thermal stabiliser in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used as base material in amperometric, potentiometric and conductometric electrochemical sensors which are used in in-vitro diagnostic medical devices for the analysis of blood and other body fluids and body gases.  
• Item 44: Cadmium in radiation tolerant video camera tubes designed for cameras with a centre resolution greater than 450 TV lines which are used in environments with ionising radiation exposure exceeding 100 Gy/hour and a total dose in excess of 100kGy.

All these exceptions are limited in time. The information on the expiration dates can be found in the Government Regulation No. 344/2020.

Please, note that provisions of the Regulations should enter into force on April 1, 2021 apart from the provision on cadmium in radiation tolerant video camera tubes (item 44 of Annex 3) that becomes effective from September 1, 2020.

The Government Regulation No. 344/2020 can be found here.

The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team. GMA Consult Group provides a full cycle of international type approval and global market access services for IT, Telecom and industrial electrical products in all countries throughout the world. With proven expertise in worldwide regulations, compliance, certification, and conformity assessment, GMA Consult Group can help your company speed up the access to any market with almost zero efforts from your side.

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