While not legally binding, the FAQ document reflects the views of the European Commission and may be revised at a later date.

According to the scope portion of the FAQ document, Annex IA of the WEEE Directive contains a list of categories of products covered, and Annex IB contains a list of products falling into those categories. Since the list is non-exhaustive, EU member states could in principle include other products in national legislation implementing the WEEE Directive.

The purpose of the WEEE Directive is the prevention of electrical and electronic waste and to promote the reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery of such wastes to reduce disposal. The directive also seeks to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the lifecycle of electrical and electronic equipment - producers, distributors and consumers - and in particular those operators directly involved in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The purpose of the RoHS Directive is to approximate the laws of EU member states on restrictions of the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, and to contribute to the protection of human health and the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The RoHS/WEEE FAQ document includes the following questions:

• What is the legal base of the WEEE and the RoHS Directives?
• What are the criteria for determining whether a product falls under the RoHS Directive?
• Do the WEEE and the RoHS Directives apply to electrical and electronic products for professional use?
• Do the WEEE and the RoHS Directives apply to batteries?
• Do the WEEE and the RoHS Directives apply to ink cartridges?
• Do electrical or electronic devices such as car radios fall under the RoHS Directive or under Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles (ELV)?
• Does the RoHS Directive apply to spare parts installed in new equipment?
• Is the use of non-RoHS compliant material allowed for capacity expansion and/or upgrade in electrical and electronic products put on the market before July 1, 2006?
• Does the substance ban under the RoHS Directive apply to the production process?
• Are Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips included in the scope of the WEEE and RoHS Directives?
• Are antennas, cables, fibre optics and waveguides covered by the WEEE and RoHS Directives?
• What is meant by "infected products"?
• What is meant by "video games"?
• What does "put on the market" mean?
• Are maximum concentration values set in the RoHS Directive?
• Is re-use of the appliance covered by the targets?

Source: European Commission.