RoHS is a mandatory standard established by EU legislation, and its full name is the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances" directive. This standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to standardize the material and process standards of electronic and electrical products, making them more conducive to human health and environmental protection. The purpose of this standard is to eliminate six substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (note: the correct Chinese name for PBDE refers to polybrominated diphenyl ethers, which is an incorrect statement), from motor and electronic products, and specifically stipulates that the lead content cannot exceed 0.1%.

ROHS Overview and Requirements:

Restricted toxic substances:

·Heavy metals:

-Lead lead;

-Mercury mercury;

-Cadmium;

-Chromium (VI) hexavalent chromium

·Some brominated flame retardants:

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB's);

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE's)

The maximum limit indicator is:

·Cadmium: 0.01% (100 ppm);

·Lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers: 0.1% (1000 ppm)

The RoHS directive restricts the use of the following six types of hazardous substances

1. Examples of lead (Pb) using this substance: solder, glass, PVC stabilizer

2. Mercury (Hg) (Mercury) Examples of using this substance: thermostats, sensors, switches and relays, light bulbs

3. Examples of using cadmium (Cd): switches, springs, connectors, housings and PCBs, contacts, batteries

4. Hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+) Example of using this substance: Metal corrosion coating

5. Examples of using polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) include flame retardants, PCBs, connectors, and plastic casings

6. Examples of using polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE): flame retardants, PCBs, connectors, plastic casings

Testing principle:

According to the EU WEEE&RoHS directive, CES separates products based on their materials and conducts testing for harmful substances using different materials. Generally speaking:

·Metal materials need to be tested for four harmful metal elements, such as Cd, cadmium, Pb, lead, Hg, mercury, Cr6, and hexavalent chromium

·In addition to checking for these four harmful heavy metal elements, plastic materials also need to be tested for brominated flame retardants (PBB/PBDE)

·At the same time, packaging materials of different materials also need to be tested for heavy metals separately (94/62/EEC)

The following are the upper limit concentrations for six hazardous substances specified in RoHS:

Cadmium: less than 100ppm

Lead: less than 1000ppm

Less than 3500ppm in steel alloy

Less than 4000ppm in aluminum alloy

Less than 40000 ppm in copper alloy

Mercury: less than 1000ppm

Hexavalent chromium: less than 1000ppm

Reasons for Introducing RoHS

The first time it was noticed that electrical and electronic equipment contained heavy metals harmful to human health was in 2000 when cadmium was found in the cables of a batch of game consoles sold in the market in the Netherlands. In fact, the soldering and packaging printing inks widely used in the production of electrical and electronic products currently contain harmful heavy metals such as lead.

When will RoHS be implemented

The European Union will implement RoHS on July 1, 2006. Electrical and electronic products that use or contain heavy metals and flame retardants such as PBDE and PBB will not be allowed to enter the EU market if their limits exceed the standard

Scope of RoHS certification application

27 member states of the European Union: France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Cyprus, Hungary, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania.

What products are specifically involved in RoHS

RoHS targets all electrical and electronic products that may contain the six harmful substances mentioned above in their production processes and raw materials, including daily household appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines, microwaves, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, water heaters, etc; Black household appliances, such as audio and video products, DVDs, CDs, TV receivers, IT products, digital products, communication products, etc; Electric tools, electric electronic toys, medical electrical equipment

Current progress of RoHS

Some large companies have taken notice of RoHS and begun to take countermeasures, such as SONY's digital cameras, which have declared on the packaging box that this product uses lead-free soldering; Printed with lead-free ink.

The Ministry of Information Industry also issued the "Management Measures for Pollution Prevention and Control of Electronic Information Products" in 2004, which is similar to RoHS. In October, the "Working Group on Pollution Prevention and Control Standards for Electronic Information Products" was established to study and establish a pollution prevention and control standard system for electronic information products that is in line with China's national conditions; Carry out research and revision work on standards related to pollution prevention and control of electronic information products, especially accelerate the development of basic standards such as materials, processes, terminology, testing methods, and experimental methods urgently needed by the industry.

On July 1, 2011, the European Union published a new version of the RoHS directive in the Official Journal (OJ) - Directive 2011/65/EU.

As a directive that Chinese electronic and electrical product manufacturing enterprises are very familiar with, its introduction process can be described as full of twists and turns. Due to significant differences among various parties during the revision process, this revision, which was originally intended to be introduced in 2009, has been repeatedly delayed. Especially regarding whether to expand the scope of products and restricted substances, there has been intense debate within the European Union, including the Commission, European Parliament, Council, industry, NGOs, and others.

The main differences between the 2011/65/EU and the original RoHS directive 2002/95/EU are:

1. Expanded product scope: All electronic and electrical products are covered by the directive regulation (including cables and spare parts), but a certain transition period is given to newly added Class 8 medical devices and Class 9 monitoring and control instruments (including industrial monitoring instruments). In addition, 20 exemptions are provided for these two types of products (listed in Annex IV)

2. Clarified some definitions

3. The scope of controlled substances has not been expanded, and the original limit requirements for six substances have been maintained. However, it has been proposed that in the future review process, priority should be given to substances including DEHP, in order to pave the way for the expansion of the scope of controlled substances in the future

4. The producer provision has been removed and definitions for "manufacturer", "authorized representative", "importer", and "distributor" have been added, with clear delineation of their responsibilities

5. It stipulates that products must be affixed with the CE mark and related matters.

This directive will come into effect on the 20th day of its publication in the OJ, and member states are required to translate it into their own laws by January 2, 2013.

The release of 2011/65/EU will have a certain impact on China's electronic and electrical product manufacturing enterprises, especially due to the inclusion of medical device products and monitoring and control instrument products in the scope of regulation. Therefore, the impact on these two types of manufacturing enterprises will be very significant

In addition, due to the need to affix the CE mark on electronic and electrical products, it will also be a huge challenge for the industry to comply with the requirements of the directive.

Common RoHS testing methods

1. Anion: English blue technology ion chromatography method

After pre-treatment with oxygen bomb combustion and indigo blue technology, it is directly analyzed by ion chromatography

2. Cations and their valence states:

It can be detected by blue cation chromatography, ion selective electrode method, and atomic absorption method

The determination of the valence state of cationic elements can be analyzed using voltammetric polarography

The pronunciation of RoHS/ rous/

The detection method can refer to the determination procedure for the concentration of six restricted substances in electronic and electrical products in IEC62321:2008

A. Firstly, XRF is used for non-destructive screening, which is fast, efficient, non-destructive, and cost-effective. But there are many interfering factors and significant errors.

B. After microwave digestion and acid digestion, the concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Hg were determined using AAS or ICP-AES.

C. After Soxhlet extraction, the concentrations of polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, etc. were determined by GC-MS.

D. Use point testing method or boiling water extraction method to determine the concentration of colorless surface Cr6+, or use UV visible spectrophotometer to test according to EPA3060A.

RoHS certification

RoHS is a mandatory standard established by EU legislation, and its full name is the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances" directive. This standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to standardize the material and process standards of electronic and electrical products, making them more conducive to human health and environmental protection. The purpose of this standard is to eliminate six substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers, from motor and electronic products, and specifically stipulates that the lead content cannot exceed 0.1%. The main sources of lead involved are as follows.

The basic content of the EU RoHS and WEEE directives

On February 13, 2003, the European Parliament and the European Commission published the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (RoHS Directive) in their Official Gazette

The RoHS Directive and the WEEE Directive stipulate that there are ten categories of 102 products included in the management of hazardous substance restrictions and scrap recycling, and the first seven categories of products are the main exported electrical products in China. This includes large household appliances, small household appliances, information and communication equipment, consumer products, lighting equipment, electrical and electronic tools, toys, leisure and sports equipment, medical equipment (excluding implanted or infected products), monitoring and control instruments, and vending machines.

On December 3, 2008, the European Union issued revised proposals for the WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) and the RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC). The purpose of this proposal is to create a better regulatory environment, that is, simple, easy to understand, effective, and enforceable regulations. The main contents of the RoHS directive revision include:

1. Changed legal terminology, clarified the scope and definition of instructions

2. Introduce the CE mark and EC declaration of conformity for the product

3. Incorporate medical devices, control and monitoring instruments into the scope of the RoHS directive in stages;

4. The six hazardous substances restricted have not changed, but four substances - hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), 2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) - require priority evaluation to determine whether they will be included in the scope of restricted substances in the future

RoHS Scope:

Only for new products launched on the market from July 1, 2006.