RoHS Compliance Screening

What is RoHS?

RoHS is the Restriction of use of Hazardous Substances and is a legal directive aimed at removing six hazardous elements from electrical and electronic equipment. The hazardous elements of concern here are Pb, Hg, Cr6+, Cd and Br containing compounds PBB and PBDE (or lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium and polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl ethers). In the EU, under EU Directive 2002/95/EC, the levels of of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE’s must be below 1000 ppm and cadmium below 100 ppm.

Who does it affect?

You are affected if you are a manufacturer, seller, distributor or importer/exporter of electrical and electronic equipment.

Some examples of products affected include:

Large and small household appliances
Toys, leisure and sports equipment
Lighting equipment and fittings
IT and telecoms equipment
Consumer equipment
Electrical and electronic tools

This is not an exhaustive list and there are exceptions.

What needs to be done?

A company that is affected by the directive needs to prove that their products are compliant which can be demonstrated in several ways. One route is to bring screening ‘in-house’ giving complete control over the process, the costs and providing immediate feedback on results (no more waiting for the testing laboratories). With the use of an x-ray fluorescence analyser (XRF) and setting up the necessary procedures you can implement your own screening programme.

What could happen if your product is found non-compliant?

If one of your products is found to contain a critical amount of a banned substance then your product could be banned from the market place, your company could be fined and face product recalls seriously affecting your reputation.

Popular XRF Analysers for RoHS

What is RoHS?

Who Does it Affect?

What needs to be done?

What if your product is found non-compliant?

RoHS Screening by XRF

RoHS Screening Flow Chart

Useful Resources

Instrument UK

Popular Instruments for RoHS