Clean and circular electronics: Commission ends use of mercury in lamps

The Commission has adopted a package of rules ending a broad range of existing exemptions for the use of mercury in lamps. Under EU rules restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, electronics that contain mercury cannot be placed on the market, except if time-limited and application-specific exemptions are granted by the Commission. Most of these exemptions for general lighting will be discontinued as assessments conducted by the Commission since 2016 concluded that safe, mercury-free alternatives are widely available for fluorescent lamps.