RoHS certification

RoHS is a mandatory standard established by EU legislation, and its full name is the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances". This standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to standardize the materials 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) in motor electronic products, and specifically specifies that the content of lead should not exceed 0.1%.

ROHS Summary and Requirements:

Restricted toxic substances:

·Heavy metals:

-Lead;

-Mercury;

-Cadmium;

-Chromium (VI) hexavalent chromium

·Certain brominated flame retardants:

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB's);

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE's)

The maximum limit indicators are:

·Cadmium: 0.01% (100 ppm);

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

The RoHS directive restricts the use of the following six categories of harmful substances

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

2. Examples of mercury (Hg) using this substance include temperature controllers, sensors, switches and relays, and light bulbs

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

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

5. Examples of polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) using this substance: flame retardants, PCBs, connectors, plastic shells

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

Testing principles:

According to the WEEE&RoHS directive of the European Union, CES separates products based on their materials and conducts harmful substance testing 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+hexavalent chromium

·In addition to inspecting 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 specified for six harmful substances in RoHS:

Cadmium: less than 100ppm

Lead: less than 1000ppm

Less than 3500ppm in steel alloys

Less than 4000ppm in aluminum alloy

Less than 40000 ppm in copper alloy

Mercury: less than 1000ppm

Hexavalent chromium: less than 1000ppm

Reasons for launching RoHS

The first time that heavy metals harmful to human health were found in electrical and electronic equipment was in the cables of a batch of game consoles sold in the Netherlands in 2000. In fact, the soldering tin and printing ink used extensively in the production of electrical and electronic products contain harmful heavy metals such as lead.

When to implement RoHS

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

RoHS certification scope of application

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

Which products are specifically involved in RoHS

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

Current progress of RoHS

Some large companies have already noticed RoHS and begun to take countermeasures, such as Sony's digital camera, which has 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 standard system for pollution prevention and control of electronic information products that is in line with China's national conditions; Conduct 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 testing methods that are urgently needed by the industry.

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

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

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

1. Expanded product scope: All electronic and electrical products have been covered within the scope of the directive (including cables and spare parts), but a certain transition period has been granted to newly added Class 8 medical devices and Class 9 monitoring and control instruments (including industrial monitoring instruments). In addition, 20 exemptions have been given 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 the six substances have been maintained. However, it is proposed that in the future review process, priority should be given to substances including DEHP, paving the way for the directive to expand the scope of controlled substances in the future

4. Removed producer regulations and added definitions of "manufacturer", "authorized representative", "importer", "distributor", and clearly defined their responsibilities

5. It is stipulated that products need to be affixed with the CE mark and related matters.

This directive will come into effect on the 20th day of its publication in OJ, and member states are required to convert it into domestic law before January 2, 2013.

The release of 2011/65/EU will have a certain impact on Chinese 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, meeting the requirements of the directive in the industry will also be a huge challenge.

Common RoHS detection methods

1. Anion: British blue technology ion chromatography

After using oxygen bomb combustion and British blue technology pre-treatment, it directly enters ion chromatography for analysis

2. Cations and their valence states:

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

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

Pronunciation of RoHS/ rous/

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

A. Firstly, XRF is used for non-destructive screening, which is fast, efficient, non-destructive, and cost-effective. But there are many interference 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 biphenyl ethers, etc. were determined by GC-MS.

D. Measure the concentration of Cr6+on the colorless surface using the point test method or boiling water extraction method, or use a 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". This standard has been officially implemented since July 1, 2006, mainly used to standardize the materials 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 a total of six substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated biphenyl ethers, in motor and electronic products, with a focus on stipulating that the content of lead should not exceed 0.1%. The main sources of lead involved are as follows.

Basic content of EU RoHS and WEEE directives

On February 13, 2003, the European Parliament and the European Commission issued the "Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive" (referred to as the "WEEE Directive") and the "Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electronic and Electrical Equipment Directive" (referred to as the "RoHS Directive") in their official gazettes

According to the RoHS Directive and the WEEE Directive, there are ten categories of 102 products that are included in the management of hazardous substance restrictions and waste recycling. The first seven categories of products are all 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 RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC). The purpose of this proposal is to create a better regulatory environment, which is simple, understandable, effective, and executable regulations. The main contents of the RoHS directive revision include:

1. Changed legal wording and clarified the scope and definition of the directive

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

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

4. The six restricted harmful substances have not changed, but four substances - hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), 2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) - require priority evaluation to examine 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.