RoHS: Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances

Summary

RoHS restricts the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products (EEE products). These current list of restricted substances includes four heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium) and two brominated flame retardants (polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE)). The maximum allowed concentrations are 0.1% (except for cadmium which is limited to 0.01%) by weight of homogenous material. Homogenous material means a material that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials.

RoHS applies to eleven categories of EEE products. These are: 1. Large household appliances; 2. Small household appliances, 3. IT and telecommunications equipment; 4. Consumer equipment; 5. Lighting equipment; 6. Electrical and electronics tools; 7. Toys, sports and leisure equipment; 8. Medical devices; 9. Monitoring and control instruments including industrial monitoring and control instruments; 10. Automatic dispensers; and, 11. Other EEE products not covered by any of the above categories

The original RoHS Directive was adopted on January 27, 2003. It was recast by the European Parliament and Council on June 8, 2011 and is often referred to as “RoHS II”. RoHS II is transitioning to an “open scope” Directive. This means that the Directive will apply to EEE products that are “dependent on electric current or electromagnetic fields for at least one intended function. The transition will be completed in 2019. U.S. exporters should consult the text of the Directive, contact our office, or seek specialized guidance if they have questions on whether their products benefit from a temporary exclusion due to the transition period.

Exemptions and Exclusions

Exemptions

RoHS II exempts certain applications from the substance restrictions. The exemptions are temporary and reviewed at least every four years. The current list of exemptions is contained in Annex III. Annex III has been amended by Commission Delegated Directives 2012/50/EU and 2012/51/EU.

Specific exemptions for medical devices and monitoring and control instruments are listed in Annex IV of ROHS II.

U.S. exporters that believe their products destined for the EU market require an exemption can find the application requirements in Annex V of RoHS II. Applications should be submitted to the European Commission Directorate General for Environment located at:

European Commission
Environment DG, Unit C2
B - 1049 Brussels
Belgium

Exclusions

Permanent exclusions from RoHS include the following: military equipment, space equipment, equipment designed to be part of another piece of equipment falling outside the scope of RoHS, large scale industry tools, large scale fixed installations, means of transport for persons or goods, non-road mobile machinery, active implantable medical devices, photovoltaic panels, equipment for research and development only available business to business.

Labeling and CE Marking

RoHS II is a CE Mark Directive. This means that each product covered by ROHS must have technical testing and accompanying documents, a declaration of conformity, and the CE marking affixed to the product. The format of the declaration of conformity is outlined in Annex VI of the Directive. The CE mark for ROHS products will be required from 2 January 2013. Commercial “ROHS compliant” marks will become illegal.

Legal Documents and Guidance

U.S. businesses exporting products covered by RoHS II may find the following documents useful:

Questions and further information:

Please contact us at: Office.BrusselsEC@trade.gov

*Page last updated on April 11, 2013.