Directive 2001/95/EC on general product safety applies where there are no specific provisions with the same objective in rules of Community law governing the safety of the products concerned. The Directive imposes a general safety requirement on any product placed on the market for consumers, or likely to be used by consumers. A product is deemed safe once it conforms to any specific Community legislation. In the absence of such Community legislation, the product must comply with specific national legislation or with voluntary national standards which transpose the European standards. In the absence thereof, the Directive sets out mechanisms by which the safety compliance of the product may be determined, including compliance with codes of good practice.
Directive 2011/65/EUon the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, has a similar scope to Directive 2012/19/EU on WEEE, in that it applies to all EEE set out in Annex I of that Directive. Member States shall ensure that EEE placed on the market, including cables and spare parts for its repair, its reuse, updating of its functionalities or upgrading of its capacity, does not contain the substances listed in Annex II of the Directive: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). This applies to medical devices and monitoring and control instruments which are placed on the market from 22 July 2014. The Annexes III and IV to the Directive contains certain exceptions to this obligation.
