Philippines notifies WTO of proposed regulation for mercury-containing batteries, switches and fluorescent lamps 
On October 12, 2021, the Bureau of Philippine Standards of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-BPS) submitted to the WTO a TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) notification of the draft of New Technical Regulation Concerning the Mandatory Product Certification of Mercury Added Products. This draft prescribes the mandatory product certification of mercury-containing batteries, switches, and fluorescent lamps in order to ensure that mercury-containing products imported, manufactured, distributed or sold in the Philippines meet certain safety requirements. These products may not be manufactured or imported in the Philippines unless they have met the allowable mercury content prescribed and the manufactures and importers of them has been issued a Philippine Standard (PS) license or Import Commodity Clearance (ICC). Comments on this matter will be received until December 7, 2021.
The notification can be viewed at the following URL
https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/FE_Search/FE_S_S009-DP.aspx?language=E&HasEnglishRecord=True&HasFrenchRecord=False&HasSpanishRecord=False&CatalogueIdList=277915,277725,277724,277565,277567,277618,277572,277571,277551,277509&CurrentCatalogueIdIndex=1&FullTextHash=371857150
Products under mandatory certification and allowable mercury content
The following mercury-containing products are subject to the mandatory certification schemes. The allowable mercury content shown below must be met to obtain a PS license or ICC.
| Product | Allowable Mercury Content |
|---|---|
| Button zinc silver oxide batteries | Mercury content less than 2% of the unit mass |
| Button zinc air batteries | |
| Tilt Switch | Mercury content less than 20 mg per bridge |
| Inclination Switch | |
| Flame sensor Switch | |
| Float Switch | |
| Mercury Seismic Switch | |
| Pressure Switch | |
| Temperature Switch | |
| Mercury Displacement Relays | |
| Mercury Reed Relays | |
| Mercury Overcurrent Relay | |
| Mercury Wetted Reed Relay | |
| Mercury Contact Relay | |
| High Frequency Switches (3MHz to 30 MHz) | |
| High Frequency Relays (3MHz to 30 MHz) | |
| Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for general lighting purposes ≤ 30 watts | Mercury content less than 5 mg per lamp |
| Linear fluorescent lamps (LFLs) for general lighting purposes: Triband phosphor < 60 watts | |
| Linear fluorescent lamps (LFLs) for general lighting purposes: Halophosphate phosphor ≤ 40 watts | Mercury content less than 10 mg per lamp |
| Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) and External Electrode Fluorescent Lamps (EEFL): short length (≤ 500 mm) | Mercury content less than 3.5 mg per lamp |
| Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) and External Electrode Fluorescent Lamps (EEFL): medium length (> 500 mm and ≤ 1 500 mm) | Mercury content less than 5 mg per lamp |
| Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFL) and External Electrode Fluorescent Lamps (EEFL): long length (> 1 500 mm) | Mercury content less than 13 mg per lamp |
The manufactures or importers that have failed to obtain a PS license or ICC may be required to recall their products.
The draft can be downloaded from the following URL.
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/PHL/21_6526_00_e.pdf
For medical devices, Department of Health are considering another rules.
