RoHS Certification
RoHS is the acronym for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. RoHS, also known as Directive 2002/95/EC, originated in the European Union and restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products. All applicable products in the EU market after July 1, 2006 must pass RoHS compliance.
RoHS is a directive, not a regulation. A regulation is a law that is immediate and universal across all participating entities in the EU. A directive is a legislative act which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. This means it's a law but there can be differences in how the law is carried out. Directives typically leave member states with a certain amount of leeway as to the exact rules to be adopted. Both immediately apply to anyone who wants to sell in the EU, import from the EU, or manufacture in the EU.
The RoHS Directive prevents all new electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market in the European Economic Area from containing lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, poly-brominates biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), except in certain specific applications, in concentrations greater than the values decided by the European Commission. These values have been established as 0.01% by weight per homogeneous material for cadmium and 0.1% for the other five substances.
RoHS specifies maximum levels for the following restricted materials:
- 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
- Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP): < 1000 ppm