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I understand Medical and Military are exempt under the proposed Lead-Free initiative, how does one know if they qualify for this exemption?  What type of documentation is required for exemption?"

Suggest you check out the following link in search of your answers:

http://www.pb-free.info/directive.htm

The push for lead-free began with the European “Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment” known as RoHS, which was fairly vague in the exemptions:

"Exemptions from the substitution requirement should be permitted if substitution is not possible from the scientific and technical point of view or if the negative environmental or health impacts caused by substitution are likely to outweigh the human and environmental benefits of the substitution. Substitution of the hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment should also be carried out in a way so as to be compatible with
the health and safety of users of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)."

High reliability applications in medical and mil/aero have at least an extended deadline, while the dealine is 1 July, 2006 for non-exempt applications. There is a continuing stream of exemption requests.

Compliance is determined by self-assessment and certification by self-accreditation. You might also be interested to know that RoHS is not necessarily lead-free and use of lead-free verbage in a specification would actually be more restrictive than the specification.

Hope this helps!

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Vitreous Humor
"Eye can see clearly now..."

First of all, there are actually several different lead-free initiatives out there.  The most prominent one is the ROHS (Restriction of hazardous substances) directive passed by the European Union.  Japan and some other countries are passing their own laws.  So your answer depends on where you are selling product.  For the most part, the US medical and military industries are not going lead-free.  This is because no US laws have been passed that require it on products sold in the US.  If you are selling in Europe, the ROHS does not list any industries as exempt.  Instead, it lists specific applications such as "lead in glass of cathode ray tubes, electronic componenets and flourescent tubes".  I am not aware of any documentation that is filled out and filed to exempt a product from compliance.  Each European country is responsible for compliance within their own boundaries and may have different paperwork requirements.