Image: Zane Lee
Citizens have until mid-July to share their views on these proposals. We call on you to contribute to this consultation by giving your feedback to at least the five lamp categories below (in all, there are 13 specific proposals). In case you wish to give feedback on the remaining lamp categories please contact elena.lymberidi@eeb.org
Attention: The deadline for feedback differs depending on lamp category (listed below in chronological order):
Long life CFLs – 12 July 2021
Non-linear FL – 12 July 2021
CCFL/EEFL – 12 July 2021
Long fluorescent lamps (LFL) – 16 July 2021
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) – 21 July 2021
The EU regulates mercury in light bulbs through the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, by (until now) allowing mercury use via an exemption list. Widely used mercury containing light bulbs like compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and linear fluorescent lamps have been tolerated because of the once limited availability of mercury-free alternatives. However, technological progress over the past decade means that light-emitting diode (LED) retrofit bulbs are a a cost-effective, mercury-free alternative to fluorescents.
The original exemption for certain fluorescent lamps was granted in September 2010 up to July 2016, allowing the lighting industry ample time to adapt its processes. When a review process was launched in 2015, evidence presented by the Commission’s own consultants (Öko Institut), as well as the EEB, showed the ready availability of low-energy mercury-free LED alternatives and provided the justification for an early phase-out of the larger categories of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps. The Commission ignored this evidence and wasted more than two years commissioning a socioeconomic analysis based on data that was already well out of date when it was eventually published in 2019 and was, therefore, completely misleading, indicating that the phase-out would have a net cost of €250 billion. It took a further year and further evidence submitted by the EEB and others for the Commission to correct its mistake and issue in July 2020 a revised analysis showing that a 2021 phase-out would actually bring a net benefit of €29.9 billion. More in the annex of our last letter to the Commission.
To submit comments to the Commission for these five priority product groups, please start by registering or logging into the Commission’s website as outlined below. Once you are logged in, return to this webpage and scroll down to click on each of the five initiatives hyperlinked below.
Once you are logged in, you only need to go to each landing page linked below to submit comments. Please click on the hyperlinks in the headers below for all five pages:
2. Single capped (compact) fluorescent lamps for general purposes (click here) – proposes to phase out all compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) including both screw-base and pin-base (categories 1(a) through 1(e) in 12 months. Comment period closes on 21 July.
Suggested comments:
3. General Lighting Lamps with a lifetime of 20,000 hours or more (click here) – proposes to phase out this category of long-life CFL, category 1(g), in 18 months. Comment period closes on: 16 July.
Suggested comments:
4. Non-linear tri-band phosphor lamps (click here) – proposes a 3 year extension period for category 2(b)(3), non-linear tri-band lamps, thus there is no phase-out proposed for this product category. Comment period closes on 12 July.
Suggested comments:
5. Cold Cathode and External Electrode Fluorescent Lamps (click here) – proposes a 5 year extension period for categories 3(a) through 3(c ), which includes cold cathode fluorescent lamps and external electrode fluorescent lamps in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). Comment period closes on 12 July.
Suggested comments: