The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive was created to limit including specific hazardous materials in new equipment in the European Community and is expected to be implemented in late 2005. This directive impacts the manufacturing, distributing, and selling of electrical or electronic equipment that contains lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls or polybrominated diphenyl ethers. The equipment impacted by this directive is similar to that of the WEEE.
Under the RoHS, new electrical or electronic equipment must not contain any of the aforementioned hazardous chemicals, by January 1, 2006. Few products are exempt from the RoHS directive and will be reevaluated every four years.
RoHS2 -- In December of 2008, the European Commission revealed plans to recast the RoHS Directive, effectively creating RoHS2. The current RoHS requires a review, especially with regard to the inclusion of medical devices and monitoring and control instruments (categories 8 & 9) in its scope and to the adaptation of the list of restricted substances.
One of the most significant changes is the removal of the term "producer". No longer can distributors or importers ignore RoHS compliance, claiming it isn't their responsibility. Manufacturers must not only build compliant products, but they will now be required to produce technical documentation and a formal declaration of conformity.
It is important to stress that these changes will affect some aspects of our industry. If your products have previously been classified as out-of-scope, they may now be included. And, if you already have RoHS compliant products, you will have additional tasks to address. At present, this recast is simply a proposal and is not yet in force – the EU parliament and the Council must first formally agree its text before it enters the Official Journal (OJ). However, as this is a Commission proposal based on two (industry) stakeholder consultations and several expert studies, it is highly likely it will be adopted.
Example Substances Targeted Under REACH Under Priority Assessment for Future RoHS Restriction:
| Substance | Found in Hardware/EEE? |
| DEHP, DBP and BBP | Yes - PVC |
| HBCDD | Yes - high-impact polystyrene |
| SCCP | Possible - rubber, sealants, etc. |
| TBTO | Possible - polyurethane foam |
| Cobalt dichloride | Very unlikely |
| Diarsenic pentoxide | Very unlikely |
| Diarsenic trioxide | Very unlikely |
| MDA | No |
| Anthracene | No |
| Sodium dichromate (dehydrate form) | No |
| Musk xylene | No |
| Lead hydrogen arsenate | No |
| Triethyl arsenate | No |
For more information on RoHS:
NEW - Understanding the EU Environmental Directives by Robert Straetz, Office of the European Union, U.S. Department of Commerce
WEEE/RoHS - China and EU Comparison
U.S. Commercial Service WEEE and RoHS in the EU
European Commission - Restriction of Hazardous Substances
Updates:
November 18, 2009 - Will the U.S. get it's RoHS Standard?
April 18, 2008 - U.S. Mission to the EU WEEE/RoHS Update
April 1, 2008 - Presentation on RoHS Directive Update by Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform of the United Kingdom.
February 5, 2008 - U.S. Mission to the EU WEEE/RoHS Update
Request for U.S. companies to submit input by April 1st.
January 7, 2008 - U.S. Mission to the EU WEEE/RoHS Update