RoHS directive obligations on B2B producers

The ROHS directive is complementary to the WEEE directive and applies to the same categories of products defined by the WEEE directive, with the exception of Category 8 medical devices and Category 9 monitoring and control equipment. From July 2006, the following substances are effectively banned from use in new electrical and electronic equipment:

  • Lead;
  • Mercury;
  • Cadmium;
  • Hexavalent chromium; and
  • Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), which are used as flame retardants in plastics.

Trace elements of these substances are allowed, up to a maximum concentration in any individual homogenous material of 0.01% by weight for cadmium, and 0.1% by weight for the other substances. The definition of homogeneous materials has caused some confusion in the past, but has been clarified in an EC decision document published on 18 August 2005. A homogeneous material is a single substance such as a plastic, for example the PVC insulation on insulated copper wire. Components such as capacitors, transistors and semiconductor packages are not "materials" but will contain several different materials. For example, a semiconductor package will contain at least six as shown below.

Six individual homogenous materials in a semiconductor package

By placing their products on the market, producers are declaring that these comply with RoHS legislation. This is the basis for "self-declaration" which is used for several other EC directives. There are no requirements for the application of a specific mark or testing by independent third parties. However, the authorities within each Member State will carry out market surveillance and conduct checks on products. If they find that a product does not comply with RoHS legislation, the producer will be asked to show that due diligence has been used and he has taken "reasonable steps" to comply. This legal defence is used for other legislation, but what constitutes "reasonable steps" has not been defined.

To demonstrate compliance, producers have to undertake extensive and time consuming surveys of their suppliers of components and sub-assemblies. In turn, first tier suppliers require materials information from their suppliers, and so on down the supply chain. Some component manufacturers produce materials declarations for ranges of products, for example one declaration for all types of Quad Flat Pack (QFP) packages. This is reasonable because all of these components would be manufactured from the same materials and so a declaration for one part type would be identical to one for another part number in the same range.

Equipment producers often obtain a part on a regular basis from a supplier and these can, over a period of time, be from a number of batches. Separate declarations for each batch should not be necessary unless the manufacturer has made a change to the production process. However, equpment producers need to be aware that batch-to-batch variation may occur.

Where authorities find non-compliant equipment they will audit the producer's records, which should be in the form of a "technical file". These files must be kept for at least four years.

For further information, please contact Aidan Turnbull
Head of WEEE, RoHS & EcoDesign on +44 (0)1225 748420