RoHS

Restriction of Hazardous Substances RoHS is a mandatory standard set out by European Union legislation. Its full name is the Directive on the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment. The standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to regulate the material and process standards of electronic and electrical products, so that it is more conducive to human health and environmental protection. The standard aims to eliminate lead, mercury, cadmium, hexvalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (note: the correct Chinese name for PBDE refers to polybrominated diphenyl ethers; polybrominated diphenyl ethers is a misnomer) from electrical and electronic products, and specifically specifies that the content of lead cannot exceed 0.1%.

ROHS Summary and Requirements:

Restricted toxic substances:

· Heavy metal:

-Lead;

-Mercury;

-Cadmium;

-Chromium (VI) Chromium 6.

· Certain brominated flame retardants:

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB's); polybrominated biphenyls (PBB's);

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE's) for phenyl ethers.

The maximum limit indicators are:

· Cadmium: 0.01%(100 ppm);

· Lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers: 0.1% (1000 ppm).

The RoHS directive restricts the use of the following six categories of hazardous substances

1. Lead (Pb) Examples of the use of this substance: solder, glass, PVC stabilizer

2. Mercury (Hg) Examples of the use of this substance: thermostats, sensors, switches and relays, light bulbs

3. Cadmium (Cd) Examples of the use of this substance: switches, springs, connectors, enclosures and PCBS, contacts, batteries

4. Hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+) Examples of the use of this substance: metal corrosion coating

5. Polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) Examples of the use of this substance: flame retardants, PCBS, connectors, plastic casings

6. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) Examples of the use of this substance: flame retardants, PCBS, connectors, plastic casings

Test principles:

According to the requirements of EU WEEE&RoHS directive, CES is to split products according to the material and carry out the detection of harmful substances with different materials. In general:

· Four harmful metal elements should be tested for metal materials, such as Cd, cadmium, Pb, lead, Hg, mercury, Cr6+ hexavalent chromium.

· In addition to the four harmful heavy metals, brominated flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyl PBB/ polybrominated biphenyl ether PBDE) should also be tested for plastic materials.

· At the same time, packaging materials of different materials should be tested separately for heavy metals (94/62/EEC).

The following are the upper limits for the six hazardous substances in RoHS:

Cadmium: less than 100ppm

Lead: less than 1000ppm

Less than 3500ppm in steel alloys

Less than 4000ppm in aluminum alloy

Less than 40000ppm in copper alloys

Mercury: less than 1000ppm

Hexavalent chromium: less than 1000ppm

The reason for launching RoHS

The first time that heavy metals harmful to human health were noticed in electrical and electronic equipment was in 2000 when cadmium was found in the cables of a number of commercially available game consoles in the Netherlands. In fact, electric and electronic products in the production of a large number of solder, packaging box printing ink contain lead and other harmful heavy metals.

When to implement RoHS

The EU will implement RoHS on July 1, 2006, when electrical and electronic products that use or contain heavy metals and flame retardants such as PBDE and PBB will not be allowed to enter the EU market

Applicable scope of ROHS certification

The 27 EU Member states: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania.

Which products are involved in RoHS

RoHS aims at all electrical and electronic products that may contain the above six harmful substances in the production process and raw materials, mainly including: daily household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, water heaters, etc.; Black household appliances, such as audio and video products, DVD, CD, TV receiver, IT products, digital products, communication products, etc. Power tools, electric electronic toys, medical electrical equipment

Current progress of RoHS

Some big companies have taken notice of RoHS and begun to respond. SONY's digital cameras, for example, have declared on the box that this product is lead-free welded; It is printed with lead-free ink.

In 2004, the Ministry of Information Industry also issued the "Management Measures for the prevention and control of pollution of Electronic Information Products", the content of which is similar to RoHS. In October, a "Standard working group for the prevention and control of pollution of electronic information products" was set up to study and establish the standard system for the prevention and control of pollution of electronic information products in line with China's national conditions. To carry out research, formulation and revision of standards related to pollution prevention and control of electronic information products, especially to speed up the formulation of basic standards of materials, processes, terms, test methods and test methods urgently needed by the industry.

On 1 July 2011, the EU published a new version of the RoHS Directive, Directive 2011/65/EU, in the Official Journal (OJ).

As China's electronics and electrical products manufacturers are very familiar with the directive, its introduction process can be described as twists and turns. The revision, originally intended for 2009, has been delayed because of disagreements over the process. In particular, there has been a heated debate within the European Union, including the Commission, the European Parliament, the Council, the industry and ngos, on whether to expand the scope of products and restricted substances.

The differences between 2011/65/EU and the original RoHS Directive 2002/95/EU are as follows:

1. Expanded product scope: all electronic and electrical products are covered by the Directive (including cables and spare parts), but a certain transitional period is granted for the newly added Category 8 medical devices and Category 9 monitoring and control instruments (including industrial monitoring instruments). In addition, 20 exemptions are granted for these two categories of products (listed in Annex IV).

2. Clarify some definitions

3. The scope of controlled substances is not expanded, and the original limit requirements of the original six substances are still maintained. However, it is proposed that in the future review process, substances including DEHP should be given priority to be investigated, paving the way for the expansion of the scope of controlled substances in the future

4. The stipulation on producer has been deleted. The definitions of "manufacturer", "authorised representative", "importer" and "distributor" are added, and the responsibilities of distributor are clearly defined

5. Stipulated that products should be affixed with the CE mark and related matters of the CE mark.

This directive will enter into force on the 20th day of publication of the OJ and Member States will need to transpose it into national law by 2 January 2013.

The release of 2011/65/EU will have a certain impact on Chinese manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, especially the medical devices and monitoring and control equipment products will be included in the scope of regulation, so the impact on these two manufacturers will be very large

In addition, since electronic and electrical products need to be affixed with the CE mark, so the industry to meet the requirements of the directive, will also be a great challenge.

Common RoHS detection methods

1. Anion: British blue technology ion chromatography

After the pretreatment with oxygen bomb combustion and British blue technology, it was directly analyzed by ion chromatography

2. Cations and their valence states:

It can be detected by blue cation chromatography, ion selective electrode method and atomic absorption method

The determination of the valence state of cationic elements can be analyzed by voltammetric polarography

The pronunciation of Rohs. /rous/

The detection method can refer to IEC62321:2008 electronic and electrical products in the determination of six kinds of restricted substance concentration procedures

A. Firstly, XRF is used for non-destructive screening, which is fast, efficient, non-destructive and low cost. But there are many interference factors and the error is large.

B. The concentrations of Pb, Cd and Hg were determined by AAS or ICP-AES after microwave digestion and acid digestion.

C. The concentration of polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers was determined by GC-MS after Soxhlet extraction.

D. Use the point test method or boiling water extraction method to determine the concentration of colorless surface Cr6+, or use UV-visible spectrophotometer according to the EPA3060A test.

ROHS Certification

Restriction of Hazardous Substances RoHS is a mandatory standard set out by European Union legislation. Its full name is the Directive on the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment. The standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to regulate the material and process standards of electronic and electrical products, so that it is more conducive to human health and environmental protection. The standard aims to eliminate lead, mercury, cadmium, hexvalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBdes) from motor and electronic products, and specifically stipulates that the content of lead should not exceed 0.1%. The main sources of lead involved are as follows.

The basic content of the EU RoHS and WEEE directives

The European Parliament and the European Commission published in their Official Journal on 13 February 2003 the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) and the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (RoHS Directive).

The RoHS Directive and WEEE Directive stipulate that there are 102 kinds of products in ten categories which are included in the management of hazardous substances limitation and scrap recycling. The first seven categories of products are all our main export electrical products. This includes large household appliances, small household appliances, information and communication equipment, consumer products, lighting equipment, electrical and electronic tools, toys, leisure and sports equipment, medical equipment (other than implanted or infected products), monitoring and control instruments, and vending machines.

On December 3, 2008, the European Union issued the proposal for the revision of the WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) and the RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC). The aim of this proposal is to create a better regulatory environment, namely simple, understandable, effective and enforceable regulations. The main contents of the revision of the RoHS directive are:

1. The wording of the law has been changed to clarify the scope and definition of the directive

2. Introduce the CE mark and EC declaration of conformity of products

3. Phased inclusion of medical devices, control and monitoring instruments in the scope of the RoHS directive;

4. There was no change in the six hazardous substances restricted, but four substances -- hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), phthalate (2-ethylhexyl ester)(DEHP), butylene benzyl phthalate (BBP) and dibutyl phthalate (DBP)-- requested priority assessment for future inclusion in the category of restricted substances

Scope of RoHS:

Only for new products launched on July 1, 2006.

For more details, please contact ZL Miss Zhou:+86 13417442373 

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