BRUSSELS , November 24, 2010 – Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council,
welcomes the outcome of the vote by the European Parliament, who adopted
today the compromise amendments on the proposal revising the RoHS Directive.
The compromise on RoHS, which restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in
electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted by the plenary with an
overwhelming majority.

Hubert Mandery, director general of Cefic commented: “Our industry wanted a
workable RoHS directive that is consistent with REACH, our reference legislation for
chemicals in Europe. It is clear that policy makers have decided to adopt such an
approach.

“We especially welcome the removal of the suggested arbitrary list of substances
which had been added without proper risk assessment.”

The inclusion of a recital that requests a thorough analysis of the coherence of RoHS
with REACH when reviewing RoHS was also welcomed by industry.

For more information, contact James Pieper, Cefic media relations +32 (0)2 676 7398
or at jpi@cefic.be or Anne Lambers on +32 2 676 73 19.

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Notes to editors:

About Cefic

Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, is the Brussels-based organisation that
represents the European chemicals industry. Created in 1972, it represents 29,000 companies that produce about a quarter of the world’s chemicals and employs around 1.2 million people. To learn more about Cefic, visit our Web site at www.cefic.org.

More about RoHS

The RoHS Directive covers the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in
electrical and electronic equipment. Alignment of RoHS with REACH legislation is part of the principles of the re-launched smart regulation initiative, a priority of EU Commission President Barroso. The RoHS proposal will be voted at the next Environment Council scheduled for December 20. The directive will then be formally adopted by the Commission and published in the EU's official journal. The law would have to be transposed by EU member states by the beginning of 2013.

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