  | Apple Computer will be forced to discontinue the sale of several products in Europe next month because they fail to meet compliance with a European Union directive that will go into effect on July 1st as reported by AppleInsider
In 2003, the European Union adopted the Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, also known as the RoHS directive.
Effective July 1, 2006, the directive prohibits the sale of electronics that contain hazardous materials such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and brominated flame retardants.
"Because of our precautionary approach to substances, Apple was able to meet many of the RoHS restrictions long before the deadline of July 1, 2006," the company said in a statement on its environmental materials Web site.
However, sources tell AppleInsider that a handful of Apple products will not meet all the requirements and will therefore be withdrawn from sale in Europe. These products include the iSight, AirPort Base Station With Modem, AirPort Base Station Power Over Ethernet & Antenna, iPod shuffle External Battery Pack and all versions of the eMac all-in-one desktop computer.
Sources say Apple will not accept new orders for the aforementioned products beyond June 23 in order to assure that all orders ship prior to the RoHS deadline.
“However, as we cross into July 2006 a few products will not meet all the requirements and will therefore be withdrawn from Sale in Europe, from July 1.”
The company stresses that while these products will no longer be made available from Apple, they will continue to be available through its third-party sales channels until they run out of stock.
The move doesn’t mean the products have been discontinued, as all of them will remain available outside Europe.
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