ARE YOU READY FOR RoHS?

The RoHS Directive, EU Directive 2002/95/EG, which will go into effect on July 1, 2006 in Europe, mandates that electrical and electronic products (EEE) put in the market within the European Union (EU) shall contain restrictive levels of the following substances:

q                 Lead (Pb)

q                 Cadmium (Cd)

q                 Mercury (Hg)

q                 Hex-Chromium (Cr6+ )

q                 PBB’s

q                 PBDE’s

This Directive, which aims to protect human health and the environment and mirrors the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), applies to electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly. The RoHS/WEEE Directive does not call for a total elimination of these substances. It mandates that the homogeneous materials within complaint products, or materials that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials, contain no more than maximum concentration levels of the six restricted substances. The definition of homogeneous materials has caused some confusion, but has been clarified as “a material that cannot be mechanically disjoined in to different materials”, such the PVC insulation on insulated copper wire.

This Directive is just the beginning in a long line of new international directives aimed at protecting human health and the environment:

 The state of California is initiating their own version EU’s RoHs Directive, The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 is scheduled to take effect January 2007. (20 other states in the United States have bills pendingfor RoHS-like regulations.)

 • China’s Regulation for Pollution Control of Electronic Products (RPCEP), is modeled after RoHS but has more restrictions is scheduled to go into effect around August 2006.

•The green procurement practices (JPSSI) in Japan has more stringent mandates than RoHS.

• Taiwan, Korea, Canada, and Australia are initiating versions of the RoHS directive.

As the RoHS deadline looms, companies that have not begun the process of becoming RoHS compliant are behind the curve. At Accu-Labs Inc., we are dedicated to the research and development of RoHS compliant chemistry that is engineered to conform to an ever changing global manufacturing environment. Contact Us or Call (773) 523-3100 with any of your RoHS related questions.