The new EU Ecodesign Regulation requirements for electronic displays are now published, banning halogenated flame retardants in the enclosure and stand of all electronic displays, monitors and televisions, from 1st March 2021. See discussion of this proposal in pinfa Newsletter n°100. The Ecodesign Regulation is mandatory, so applies to all displays sold in the EU. Small displays (< 100 cm2), projectors and medical displays are excluded. ‘Halogenated flame retardant’ is defined as “a flame retardant that contains any halogen” and the ban is expressed as follows: “The use of halogenated flame retardants is not allowed in the enclosure and stand of electronic displays”. The ban of halogenated FRs in these display parts is justified because the “presence of halogenated flame retardants represents a major issue in the recycling of plastics of electronic displays”. The NGO European Environmental Citizens Organisation for Standardisation (Ecos) is cited as calling the halogenated FR ban “a big step towards a more circular economy, which should inspire the rest of the world.” BSEF, the International Bromine Council, on the other hand “opposes the arbitrary and discriminatory ban on halogenated flame retardants … unjustified, discriminatory and procedurally flawed” and considers that “this ban is now an effective regulatory precedent with the major concern that the Ecodesign Directive is being used as a vehicle to bypass the EU’s well-established legislative provisions restricting the use of chemicals … RoHS and REACH”.
EU Ecodesign Regulation requirements for electronic displays, published 1st October 2019 https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/regulation-laying-down-ecodesign-requirements-1-october-2019