How will RoHS Work?

The RoHS Regulations banned the placing on the EU market of new Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) containing more than the set levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium and both polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants from 1st July 2006.

There are a number of exempted applications for these substances.

RoHS applies to all products under the scope (see section on WEEE and RoHS Scope) of the WEEE Directive except Medical Devices and Monitoring and Control Instruments (categories 8 and 9 respectively in Annex 1A of the WEEE Directive). It also applies to household luminaires and filament light bulbs. A review of the status of category 8 and 9 products has been undertaken and it recommends that they are brought within scope by 2012.

Manufacturers need to ensure that their products - and the components of such products - comply with the requirements of the Regulations in order to be placed on the Single Market.

The Regulations also have an impact on those who import EEE into the European Union on a professional basis, those who export to other Member States and those who rebrand other manufacturers’ EEE as their own.

These Regulations do not affect the application of existing legal requirements for EEE, including those regarding safety, the protection of health, existing transport requirements or provisions on hazardous waste. In other words, existing legislation on EEE and hazardous substances must also be complied with.

There are a number of terms used in the regulations that require some explanation:

Put on the Market

This is not defined in the UK Regulations or in the Directive, but it is being interpreted in the same way as the term 'placing on the market', which is defined in the European Commission's "Guide to the implementation of directives based on the New Approach and the Global Approach" (commonly referred to as the "Blue Book").

A product is placed on the Community market when it is made available for the first time. This is considered to take place when a product is transferred from the stage of manufacture with the intention of distribution or use on the Community market. Moreover, the concept of placing on the market refers to each individual product, not to a type of product, and whether it was manufactured as an individual unit or in a series.

With respect to the RoHS Directive the definition of ‘producer’ applies at a European Level. This means that the first party to put a product on the market anywhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) will be deemed as the producer across the whole of the EEA. Legal responsibility lies with the producer at the EEA level.

Maximum Concentration Values

For the purposes of the RoHS Regulations, a maximum concentration value of up to 0.1% by weight in homogeneous materials for lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE and of up to 0.01% by weight in homogenous materials for cadmium will be permitted in new EEE placed on the market after the 30th June 2006.

Homogenous Material

'Homogeneous material' means a material that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials.

The term 'homogeneous' is understood as "of uniform composition throughout", so examples of "homogeneous materials" would be individual types of plastics, ceramics, glass, metals, alloys, paper, board, resins and coatings.

The term "mechanically disjointed" means that the materials can be, in principle, separated by mechanical actions such as unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding and abrasive processes.

Using these interpretations, a plastic cover (for example) would be a 'homogeneous material' if it consisted exclusively of one type of plastic that was not coated with or had attached to it (or inside it) any other kinds of materials. In this case, the maximum concentration values of the RoHS Regulations would apply to the plastic. On the other hand, an electric cable that consisted of metal wires surrounded by non-metallic insulation materials would be an example of something that is not 'homogeneous material' because mechanical processes could separate the different materials. In this case the maximum concentration values of the RoHS Regulations would apply to each of the separated materials individually.

A semi-conductor package would contain many homogeneous materials, which include the plastic moulding material, the tin electroplating coatings on the lead frame, the lead frame alloy and the gold bonding wires.