RoHS is the “Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive”. It is officially 2002/95/EC and took effect on July 1, 2006. However, this was repealed on January 3, 2013 and replaced with 2011/65/EU.
It was developed to deal with electronic equipment waste and is tied into the WEEE, “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive”, 2002/96/EC. WEEE regulations established recycling measures for electronic equipment. The regulators felt that during recycling materials covered by RoHS would still cause environmental problems. It is designed to go further than WEEE. RoHS regulates and restricts ten different chemicals. It covers nearly every product that uses electricity.
It was designed to eliminate trade barriers between countries and allow freer competition throughout Europe. And it grew out of initial regulations that countries cooperated on to regulate cadmium.
What does it apply to?
It originally applied to different types of electronic, industrial, and consumer products that were included in ten categories:
1 – Large Household Appliances
2 – Small Household Appliances
3 – IT and telecommunication Equipment
4 – Consumer Electronic Equipment
5 – Lighting Equipment including light bulbs
6 – Electrical and Electronic Tools
7 – Toys, Leisure, and Sports Equipment
8 – Medical Devices
9 – Monitoring and Control Equipment
10 – Automatic Dispensers
In July 2019, there was an additional category added: “All Other Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. This specifically added vaping devices and 2-wheeled vehicles. However, it basically expanded the definition to apply to anything that uses electricity.
It not only covers products made in Europe; but any product imported into Europe. It does not just apply to these products but any component of these products and any material used to make them. Each member state determines its own enforcement procedures.
What doesn’t it apply to?
There is a lot of exemptions and some of them have time limitations. For example, some medical devices are exempt for some substances until 2021. Other medical devices have more complex regulations.
There are over 80 exemptions. For example: Military devices, “equipment designed to be sent into space”, equipment that goes into an exempt device, stationary industrial tools, large scale industrial installations, means of transport except two wheeled vehicles, photovoltaic panels that are permanently installed, some lasers, and equipment specifically designed for a research and development. There are lots of exemptions for certain types of lighting and lighting components.
There are some provisions that allow spare parts for older devices to be used that don’t need to follow the regulations. However, these need to be auditable and be in a closed loop return system with the manufacturer. The consumer must be notified on any used parts in a product.
Where does it apply?
RoHS not only applies to products made in the EU, it also applies to products made in other countries imported into the EU. There is an outline for the required documentation to show compliance with the regulations. They are less descriptive than NAFTA certificates required in North America.
What chemicals does it apply to?
It currently applies to ten materials. Certain Heavy metals, flame retardants and later some plasticizers were added.
Originally it applied to six substances:
1 – Lead
2 – Mercury
3 – Cadmium
4 – Hexavalent Chromium
5 – Polybrominated biphenyls (flame retardant)
6 – Polybrominated diphenyl ether (flame retardant)
On July 22, 2019 four more chemicals were added. These are all materials generally used as plasticizers or precursor components to make polymeric materials.
7 – Bis (2-ethyl hexyl) phthalate
8 – Butyl benzylphthalate
9 – Dibutyl Phthalates
10 – Diisobutyl Phthalates
Medical devices are exempt from the phthalate requirements until 2021.
The limit on these substances is 100 ppm for Cadmium and 1000 ppm for all the other substances. However, this applies not only to the whole object. It applies to each individual component. In addition, it applies to any part which can be removed, cut off, or broken off. And it applies to any substance used to make these materials. It is essentially a near zero tolerance.
For example, if a solder is used to place a wire onto a printed circuit board in a television set even if it is used in a tiny area of the television it must be RoHs compliant. Even if the television weighs 10,000 pounds.
Mercury in some types of lighting is exempt. Lead in some types of lighting is exempt. In cathode ray tubes is exempt. Contained in certain steels, aluminum alloys and copper alloys is is exempt. Lead is exempt in some uses of counterbalances.
Cadmium and hexavalent chromium are used in the plating industry. Hexavalent Chromium is used in thick chrome plating. A different type of chrome, tivalent Chromium, is used in certain types of plating operations. So not all chrome plating is banned only certain types. But essentially all Cadmium plating is.
Phthalates are generally used in PVC materials. In the 2011 RoHS regulations, these were mentioned as being a priority to review. They have been used less and less in the plastics industry. But are still present in the plastics we use. RoHS has caused major changes to the plastic and metal recycling industries. The hope is to prevent materials that contain the RoHS regulated materials from returning through the recycling process.
Batteries are not included.
Batteries are covered by a different regulation 91/157/EEC and 2003/0282/COD. They set limits on the amount of mercury and cadmium used in most batteries. The earlier 1991 battery regulations tried to harmonize the regulations between separate countries. The later 2003 battery regulations refined this further. Also, the regulations implement recycling programs.
One of the problems is the extensive use of lead in lead-acid batteries. In the US there are nearly 3 trillion pounds of lead used in vehicles currently on the road. In the US nearly all the lead batteries are recycled.
What is RoHS 2?
The regulation expanded on January 2, 2013 to correct some legal problems with the regulations. It also required a re-evaluation of compliance in some situations and required more details of materials used in components. It required tracing back existing inventory of components to make them compliant with the current law and not having a system to be able to do this is a criminal offense. RoHS 2 also allowed for the expansion of the regulation to cover additional chemicals.
What is RoHS 3?
This was the regulation EU 2015/863. It added the four new substances to the list. These were the four phthalate products. It also states that the phthalates must be added together and if the sum of them exceeds 1000 ppm then the product is out of compliance. It also added the eleventh category: the “All other electronic and electric equipment.”
What is a RoHS Document of Conformity Statement?
A RoHs “Document of Conformity Statement” is a letter from a manufacturer of importer that explains that the material is in compliance with the required regulations. If you need to know how to write a RoHS Compliance Statement you can find more info here..
Other countries
China requires products to be labelled whether they are compliant with their RoHS like regulations. These are known as “Administration of the Control and Electronic Information Products”. They do not ban the manufacture of these products but certain ingredients must be disclosed. Additionally, they do not include the phthalates in their labeling requirements.
The State of California bans the sale of some electronic devices and lighting products that contain the heavy metals listed by RoHS. Japan requires warning labels on some electronic parts. South Korea and Turkey have regulations similar to RoHS.
Editorial
Disposal of spent wastes is always a problem. While some European regulations are overly restrictive, sometimes due to trying to have uniform regulations across such a wide area, sometimes due to political factors, this regulation is more than reasonable. The land in Europe available for landfills and disposal areas is extremely limited. In certain areas of Europe contaminates that get into ground water will accumulate in the local area. These build up over time and can reach unhealthy levels.
Polybrominated Biphenyls are the bromine equivalent of PCB, Polychlorinated Biphenyls which have persisted in American waterways for long periods of time. They build up in the fatty tissues of animals and are a major health issue. These chemicals along with the Phthalate chemicals restricted by RoHS, are subject to the EPA “Significant New Use Rules”, SNUR, and any new use or import of these chemicals must go through EPA approval. They are being phased out in any major use in industry.
The US heavily regulates the heavy metals listed. Although lead can cause major health problems, under normal conditions, it does not travel well in the environment. Hexavalent chromium is a very hazardous substance and should be kept out of the environment if at all possible.
A major problem that RoHS is currently having is determining the chemical concentrations in recycled plastics and metals. Some of the regulated materials may have been introduced many recycling cycles ago. It takes time to work them and dilute them from the recycling feeds. These materials all already regulated from release into the environment by the EPA.
The United States does not need to create new regulations. But new regulations while they should not be identical and as restrictive as the European RoHS and WEEE, they should be in the same spirit. The EPA and OSHA regulate all the substances that RoHS does. Europe is a substantial sized market and drives most of the material produced to be RoHS compliant. All the chemicals covered by RoHS are currently being looked at or should be looked at under the EPA’s new TSCA review procedures. So, the existing EPA rules do a very good job of regulating these materials.
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