The RoHS Directive - European Union

Canadian companies selling a broad range of electrical goods and equipment in the European Union must conform to RoHS (Restriction of Use of certain Hazardous Substances Directive). The following guide provides a basic introduction to this important directive.

The EU RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC), which came into force on 1 July, 2006, places restrictions on the use of certain hazardous substances in most electronic products. The substances in question are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and polybrominated flame-retardants.

Prior to 1 July, 2006, companies have been expending large amounts of financial and administrative resources in meeting the requirements of the EU RoHS Directive. Will their efforts be enough to prove their compliance to the enforcement agencies in the EU?

Products under scope

The products under scope of the RoHS Directive must meet the definition of "EEE" in the WEEE Directive and fall into one of the following categories:

1. Large household appliances
   (Refrigerators, washing machines, etc.)
2. Small household appliances
   (Vacuum cleaners, toasters, clocks, etc.)
3. IT and telecommunications equipment
   (Personal computers, printers, telephones, etc.)
4. Consumer equipment
   (Radio sets, television sets etc.)
5. Lighting equipment
   (Luminaries for fluorescent lamps with the exception of luminaries in households, low pressure sodium lamps etc.)
6. Electrical and electronic tools
   (Drills, sewing machines, etc.)
7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment
   (Electric trains, video games, coin slot machines, etc.)
   
8. Medical devices with the exception of all implanted and infected products
   (Dialysis, etc. )
9. Monitoring and control instruments
   (Smoke detector, thermostats, etc.)
   Note: Categories 8 and 9 should not be included under scope of the RoHS Directive any time earlier than 2010.
10. Automatic dispensers
    (Automatic dispensers for drinks, etc.)

When does this affect products?

All products, that are "placed on the market" after 1 July, 2006, must be compliant with the RoHS Directive.

The European Commission's position is that the term 'placed on the market' indicates the time when a product is made available for the first time on the Community market.

As the RoHS Directive is an Article 95 Directive, and the scope is the same across all Member States, the national bodies concur with the European Commission's interpretation of 'placed on the market'.

Enforcement Criteria

The RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC) is in essence a guideline for each EU Member State. Each EU Member State has to adopt their own policies on enforcement of the Directive and what would constitute infringement or compliance with the requirements of the Directive.

Since the enforcement of the RoHS Directive is up the each EU Member State it therefore begs a common position. There has been an unofficial agreement between the EU Member States on how enforcing the RoHS Directive should be approached.

The RoHS Directive covers an incredibly diverse range of products from the electronic industry. In their initial approach, Member States have to develop criteria on targeted enforcement.

The following instances would cause an enforcement agency to take action against companies responsible for RoHS compliance of EEE:

• Market intelligence;
• Random selection;
• Products known to contain materials of high concern;
• High volume products;
• Short life products;
• Consumer products unlikely to be recycled;
• Notification of concern from external parties;
• Notification of concern from other Member States.

Which EU Member State takes action if the product is imported into an EU Member State and then imported into another Member State?

An agreement has been put forward between Member States' enforcement bodies (yet to be formally signed) that the following process will be followed:

• The 'Producer' (Importer) in the member state who first imports the EEE product is responsible for the RoHS compliance of that product. If another member state finds this EEE product to be non compliant then the enforcement agency in the member state where the product was imported would be informed and the responsibility for further enforcement action would be their responsibility.
• Any action would be taken against the original 'Producer' and not on companies in other member states who have purchased the product from them.
• If the company is part of the same group and is represented in a number of member states it is still the point of importation into Europe and that member states enforcement agency who would take any actions required.

Actions of Enforcement Bodies

A common form of RoHS enforcement can be seen in the RoHS enforcement guideline document circulated by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) in the UK on May 2006. A letter or other form of request would be delivered to the relevant producer in the UK and would detail the required information to be returned.

Typical information requested from a RoHS due diligence request:

• Organizational details of producer
• Products or brands sold
• Justification for any products excluded from RoHS
• Exemptions claimed and justifications
• Quality policies
• Certification and compliance records

Physical inspection using XRF is another common RoHS enforcement tool being used in the EU. Physical inspection using a handheld or stationary tool is useful for detecting gross violations such as heavy metals in on the surface of the product, solder, and in connectors. Physical inspection has the advantage of high throughput and, even with the cost of the equipment, lower overhead then comprehensive document review.

Areas of high concern may be identified as these non-exhaustive examples:

• PVC (Cadmium and Lead; as stabilizer and colorant);
• Polystyrene (PS) and Acrylonitrile/Butadiene/ Styrene (ABS) (PBDE; as flame retardant);
• Red/orange/yellow plastics (Cadmium, Lead and Chromium VI as lead chromate; as colorant);
• Plated metal enclosures, fasteners, clips, and screws (Hexavalent Chromium; as chromate finish);
• Populated Printed Wiring Boards (PWBs) and their components (Lead; as solder and terminal finish);
• Decorative name plates, buttons (Mercury; as additive, colorant, curing agent);
• Switches, relays (Mercury; as component of switch/relay);
• Lead solder used inside components;
• Cadmium used in thick film circuits.

The EU and individual member states have clearly stated that some sort of positive action is required to satisfy due diligence. Reasonable steps for due diligence will be evaluated by the size, scope, relevance, and thoroughness of the steps taken by the company and the potential risk of non-compliance. For RoHS, due diligence is a documentation and traceability exercise used to prove that a person or entity has performed a good standard of care to ensure that their products are compliant with RoHS.

Companies must document their control system so that it can be followed. Unless companies do so it will be difficult to claim any defense. Employees must be informed of actions and be given training to those responsible for operating the system of checks. Documented records should be kept which outline procedures followed and the checks operated to validate these processes. These records should be kept safe for future reference.

How is the Material Restriction Measured?

The RoHS Directive states that all EEE must not contain the following substances above the allowable thresholds at a homogeneous level in the table below unless an approved exemption is applied:

Lead (Pb)	1000ppm
Mercury (Hg)	1000ppm
Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+)	1000ppm
Cadmium (Cd)	100ppm
Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)	1000ppm
Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)	1000ppm

The EU Commission has defined "Homogenous" in the following way for measuring the allowable thresholds shown in the table above:

• 'Homogeneous material' means a material that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials.
• The term 'homogeneous' means "of uniform composition throughout". Examples of "homogeneous materials" are individual types of plastics, ceramics, glass, metals, alloys, paper, board, resins and coatings.
• The term "mechanically disjointed" means that the materials can, in principle, be separated by mechanical actions such as unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding and abrasive processes.

Exemptions

• The European Commission has appointed a Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) to review and vote on submitted requests for exemptions to the RoHS Directive while taking into account stakeholder comments.
• The exemptions range from the use of hazardous substances in small components to all lead in solder for finished products (e.g. network infrastructure devices).
• An important development is that some exemptions have been or will be asked to be removed as technology matures and substitution of hazardous substances is technologically feasible.

Difficulties within the supply chain

Many difficulties arise in the supply chain as the "producers" (the one legally responsible for compliance) are in most cases a distributor and not the brand owner, and therefore must push back through the supply chain to maintain their due diligence in compliance documentation.

It is not uncommon for a mistake or error to occur in the supply chain such as the incorrect finish being applied to metal, the wrong resistor delivered to the contract manufacturer, cadmium in the pigments of the product label, or an intentional/unintentional error in certification of compliance.

Verification of RoHS compliance through spot checking and testing is recommended. For Canadian brand owners or suppliers, if their product is found to be non-compliant while in a customer's possession, the Canadian brand owner faces loss of sales, returned product, and likely qualification of a competitor's product.

The error made by Sony in 2001, in regards to a Dutch specific cadmium ban, involved a single cable in their product. This error, made by their component supplier, led to a multimillion dollar recall and significant negative press.

Product scope also cause confusion in the supply chain as the distributor will consider a product to be in scope of the RoHS Directive in conflict with the brand owner's opinion and vice versa.

The above instance is most common when a product is defined in Category 9 (Monitor and Control Instruments) and Category 6 (Electrical and Electronic Tools) as their functions can be very similar in application. The issue is a product falling into Category 6 is under scope of the RoHS Directive while a product falling into Category 9 is not.

Action is being taken for Harmonised RoHS Enforcement

Member States have developed a RoHS Enforcement Network to align enforcement actions by the relevant agencies across the EU.

The RoHS Enforcement Network cooperates in a semi-formal manner in order to ensure the RoHS Directive is enforced in, as far a possible, a consistent way throughout the European Economic Area (EEA).

While such items as exemptions are the remit of the Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) and the Commission make the decisions on the grey areas of scoping, the work of the Enforcement Network is supported by the Commission and the Commission is represented within the Network. Additionally, many of the members (personnel) of the Network are also member of the TAC and hence there is a strong TAC aspect to the work of the Enforcement Network.

The information presented in this document is a general requirements based on translation of legal instruments, standards, and EC written and verbal guidance. Companies are encouraged to investigate specific requirements for their products and business.

References

• EUROPA website of the European Commission on the Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment
  
• Official text of the RoHS Directive
  
• Trade in Goods - Tariff Information by Country
• Trade in Goods - Update on Tariffs and Non-Tariff Measures
  
• The National Weights and Measures Laboratory (UK RoHS Enforcement Body) website on RoHS Enforcement

October 2009