India passes exemption list of Electronic and Electrical Equipments under RoHS rules.

On 25 July 2023, a notification was disclosed by India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change amending the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022. The updated notification is cited as E-Waste (Management) Second Amendment Rules, 2023 and came into force on the date of publication. The amendment involves updates in the exemption list of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) items under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) rules.

Products and their applications which was exempted from the requirements of sub-rule 1 of rule 16 of E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 are covered in Schedule-I and Schedule-II.

The provisions of sub-rule 1 shall not apply to components or spares required for electrical and electronic equipment specified in Schedule – II B placed in the market on or before the 1st May 2014 and electrical and electronic equipment specified in Schedule – II C placed in the market on or before the 1st April 2025.

Further details on exemption list of Schedule-II can be found in the E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022: https://www.mppcb.mp.gov.in/proc/E-Waste-Management-Rules-2022-English.pdf

In the E-Waste Management Rules, 2023 the following applications are exempted from the provisions of sub-rule 1 of rule 16 specific to medical devices and monitoring and control instruments including laboratory equipment.

Sl. No	Categories of electrical and electronic equipment
	Equipment utilising or detecting ionising radiation:
1	Lead, cadmium and mercury in detectors for ionising radiation.
2	Lead bearings in X-ray tubes.
3	Lead in electromagnetic radiation amplification devices: micro-channel plate and capillary plate.
4	Lead in glass frit of X-ray tubes and image intensifiers and lead in glass frit binder for assembly of gas lasers and for vacuum tubes that convert electromagnetic radiation into electrons.
5	Lead in shielding for ionising radiation
6	Lead in X-ray test objects.
7	Lead stearate X-ray diffraction crystals.
8	Radioactive cadmium isotope source for portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers.
	Sensors, detectors and electrodes
9	Lead and cadmium in ion selective electrodes including glass of pH electrodes.
10	Lead anodes in electrochemical oxygen sensors.
11	Lead, cadmium and mercury in infra-red light detectors.
12	Mercury in reference electrodes: low chloride mercury chloride, mercury sulphate and mercury oxide.
	Others
13	Cadmium in helium-cadmium lasers.
14	Lead and cadmium in atomic absorption spectroscopy lamps.
15	Lead in alloys as a superconductor and thermal conductor in MRI
16	Lead and cadmium in metallic bonds to superconducting materials in MRI and SQUID detectors.
17	Lead in counterweights.
18	Lead in single crystal piezoelectric materials for ultrasonic transducers.
19	Lead in solders for bonding to ultrasonic transducers.
20	Mercury in very high accuracy capacitance and loss measurement bridges and in high frequency RF switches and relays in monitoring and control instruments not exceeding 20 mg of mercury per switch or relay.
21	Lead in solders in portable emergency defibrillators.
22	Lead in solders of high performance infrared imaging modules to detect in the range 8-14 μm
23	Lead in Liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) displays.
24	Cadmium in X-ray measurement filters.