The EU RoHS Compliance

A few weeks ago, a prospective customer conducted a supplier audit of our company; business process, raw material and finished products, quality control, procurement system, etc. This customer is into the manufacture of electrical equipment mainly exported to Europe, specifically Germany. Thus beside assessing our management systems (our company is certified to both ISO 9001 and ISO 14000 Quality and Environmental Management Systems), focus was also on our being "EU Compliant on RoHS Directive".

RoHS ( Restriction on Hazardous Substances) Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and European Council, published on February 13, 2003, restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It states that by July 1, 2006, products sold in the European Union member states must be made free of these substances.

These hazardous substances were identified as Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent Chromium (Cr +6), Brominated flame retardants Polybrominatedbiphenyl (PBB) and Polybrominateddiphenyl ether (PBDE).

The issue on lead actually made headlines sometime ago when it was discovered that the maker (in China) of a popular US toy brand were found to have beyond tolerable levels of lead. Just recently also, on primetime Phillippine news, thousands of slippers for children of a popular brand were cut to pieces and destroyed by government regulating agencies and thousands more were recalled from the market shelves because of the presence of lead used in the paint for the slippers.