{"id":104700,"date":"2021-07-06T10:53:23","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T08:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/?p=104700"},"modified":"2021-07-06T16:45:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T14:45:00","slug":"call-to-action-tell-the-eu-to-eliminate-mercury-in-light-bulbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eeb.org\/de\/call-to-action-tell-the-eu-to-eliminate-mercury-in-light-bulbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Call to action: Tell the EU to eliminate mercury in light bulbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eliminating all fluorescent bulbs from European markets would significantly reduce toxic mercury pollution, lower carbon emissions and save people and businesses billions of euros in energy consumption. That is why we urge you to tell the European Commission to phase out bulbs containing mercury now.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The European Commission has released a series of separate proposals, each of which contain one or more proposed revisions to the exemptions in the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive for mercury-containing lighting products. A four-week comment period is open now<\/span> but will be closing soon. <\/span><\/div>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Attention: The deadline for feedback differs depending on lamp category (listed below in chronological order):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Long life CFLs \u2013 12 July 2021<\/p>\n

Non-linear FL \u2013 12 July 2021<\/p>\n

CCFL\/EEFL – 12 July 2021<\/p>\n

Long fluorescent lamps (LFL) \u2013 16 July 2021<\/p>\n

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) \u2013 21 July 2021<\/p>\n

Background <\/strong><\/h4>\n

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<\/a>.\u00a0 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The original exemption for certain fluorescent lamps was granted in September 2010<\/a> 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\u2019s own consultants (\u00d6ko Institut<\/a>), as well as the EEB<\/a>, 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 \u20ac250 billion. It took a further year and further evidence submitted by the EEB<\/a> and others for the Commission to correct its mistake and issue in July 2020 a revised analysis<\/a> showing that a 2021 phase-out would actually bring a net benefit<\/em> of \u20ac29.9 billion. More in the annex of our last letter to the Commission.<\/a><\/p>\n

How to comment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

To submit comments to the Commission for these five priority product groups, please start by registering or logging into the Commission\u2019s website as outlined below. Once you are logged in,<\/strong> return to this webpage<\/strong> and scroll down to click on each of the five initiatives hyperlinked below.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Click on\u00a0this link<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. In the upper-right, find the box titled \u201cLog in \/ Register to contribute\u201d, and choose \u201cLog-in\u201d if you have an account or \u201cRegister\u201d to create a new one<\/li>\n
  3. Once you are logged in, click on each of the five initiatives below and select the yellow button \u201cGive Feedback\u201d<\/li>\n
  4. Enter your comments \/ feedback into the 4000-character \u201cMy Feedback\u201d box; then answer the Commission\u2019s questions below the box and click the \u201cSubmit\u201d button<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    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:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Double-capped linear fluorescent lamps for general lighting purposes (click here)<\/strong><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2013 proposes to phase out\u00a0linear fluorescent lamp\u00a0categories\u00a02(a)(1) Tri-band\u00a0T2,\u00a02(a)(4) Tri-band\u00a0T12 and\u00a02(a)(5) Tri-band long-life\u00a0(<\/span>><\/span>25k hour) in\u00a012 months;\u00a0and proposes to\u00a0phase out categories\u00a02(a)(2) Tri-band\u00a0T5 and\u00a02(a)(3) Tri-band T8 in\u00a018 months.\u00a0\u00a0Comment period closes on\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>1<\/strong>6 July<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0<\/span>
      \n\"\"Suggested comments:<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n