Directive 2011/65/EU requires Member States to ensure that electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market does not contain certain hazardous substances listed in Annex II to that Directive. That requirement does not apply to the applications listed in Annex III to Directive 2011/65/EU.

The different categories of electrical and electronic equipment for which Directive 2011/65/EU applies (categories 1 to 11) are listed in Annex I to that Directive.

Lead is a restricted substance listed in Annex II to Directive 2011/65/EU. The use of lead in solders to complete a viable electrical connection between semiconductor die and carrier within integrated circuit flip chip packages was, however, exempted from the restriction and is currently listed in entry 15 of Annex III to that Directive. The expiry date of that exemption was, for categories 1 to 7 and 10, 21 July 2016.

The Commission received an application for renewal of that exemption before 21 January 2015, in accordance with Article 5(5) of Directive 2011/65/EU. The exemption remains valid until a decision on that application has been adopted.

Leaded solders are used in flip chip connections as bumps and solders for attaching the die to the chip carrier. The solders must be resistant to electromigration failure at the extremely high current densities required and able to create a solder hierarchy that allows staged assembly and rework of components in the manufacturing process. They must also have high ductility to reduce thermo-mechanical stress in under bump metallurgy structures, in particular in larger dies.

For certain applications covered by the current exemption, a substitution or elimination of lead is still scientifically and technically impracticable due to the lack of reliable substitutes. The exemption does not weaken the environmental and health protection afforded by Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council2. It should therefore be renewed for those particular applications.

For all other applications currently covered by the exemption, the conditions for renewal are not fulfilled. The exemption for those applications should continue to apply for 12 months after the date of entry into force of this Delegated Directive in accordance with Article 5(6) of Directive 2011/65/EU.

Since, for the applications concerned by that renewal, no reliable alternatives are available on the market, the exemption for those applications should be renewed for categories 1 to 7 and 10 for the maximum duration of five years until 21 July 2021. In view of the results of the ongoing efforts to find a reliable substitution, the duration of the exemption is unlikely to have adverse impacts on innovation.

For categories other than 1 to 7 and 10, the existing exemption remains valid as per the validity periods set out in the second subparagraph of Article 5(2) of Directive 2011/65/EU. For reasons of clarity, the dates of expiry should be added in Annex III to that Directive.

Directive 2011/65/EU should therefore be amended accordingly,