RoHS Consulting - European Union (EU) regulation on compulsory electric and electronic products for export to the RoHS countries.

RoHS Consulting - European Union (EU) regulation on compulsory electric and electronic products for export to the RoHS countries.

RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances, and impacts the entire electronics industry and many electrical products as well. The original RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union in 2002 and restricts the use of six hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. All applicable products in the EU market since July 1, 2006 must pass RoHS compliance.

Directive 2011/65/EU was published in 2011 by the EU, which is known as RoHS-Recast or RoHS 2. RoHS 2 includes a CE-marking directive, with RoHS compliance now being required for CE marking of products. RoHS 2 also added Categories 8 and 9, and has additional compliance record keeping requirements.

Directive 2015/863 was published in 2015 by the EU, which is known as RoHS 3. RoHS 3 adds four additional restricted substances (phthalates) to the list of six.

Is Your Facility RoHS Compliant for 2018?

Any business that sells applicable electrical or electronic products, equipment, sub-assemblies, cables, components, or spare parts directly to RoHS countries, or sells to resellers, distributors or integrators that in turn sell products to these countries, is impacted if they utilize any of the restricted 10 substances.

RoHS specifies maximum levels for the following 10 restricted substances.

The first six applied to the original RoHS while the last four were added under RoHS 3.

    Lead (Pb): < 1000 ppm

    Mercury (Hg): < 100 ppm

    Cadmium (Cd): < 100 ppm

    Hexavalent Chromium: (Cr VI) < 1000 ppm

    Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB): < 1000 ppm

    Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE): < 1000 ppm

    Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP): < 1000 ppm

    Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP): < 1000 ppm

    Dibutyl phthalate (DBP): < 1000 ppm