RoHS is short for "The Directive on the Restriction of the use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment”. The first version of RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC) was passed by the European Parliament on 27 January 2003; the European Union published the new version of RoHS Directive, RoHS 2 Directive (2011/65/EU), on 1 July 2011 and the new directive became effective on 21 July 2011, taking the place of the previous version.

Contents of RoHS

Annex I: Categories of EEE covered by this Directive

Annex II: Restricted substances referred to in Article 4(1) and maximum concentration values tolerated by weight in homogeneous materials

Annex III: Applications exempted from the restriction in Article 4(1)

Annex IV: Applications exempted from the restriction in Article 4(1) specific to medical devices and monitoring and control instruments

Annex V: Applications for granting, renewing and revoking exemptions as referred to in Article 5

Annex VI: EU Declaration of Conformity

Core Requirements of RoHS

According to the requirement of RoHS 2 listed on Article 4, paragraph 1, Member States shall ensure that the electrical and electronic equipments (EEE) placed on the market, including cables and spare parts for its repair, its reuse, updating of its functionalities or upgrading of its capacity, does not contain the substances listed in Annex II. And substances restricted under RoHS 2.0 are listed as follows:

Substances Restricted under RoHS 2.0

Among the above substances, four phthalates (DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIBP) were officially included in the list of restricted substances (ANNEX II) under the amendment (EU) 2015/863 on 4 June 2015.

For the above restrictions, the implement time of different types of products are different:

• Medical devices, monitoring and control instruments: applied from July 22, 2014;
• Medical devices for external diagnosis: applied from July 22, 2016;
• Industrial monitoring and control instruments: applied from July 22, 2017;
• Other EEE not covered by any of the categories above: will be applied from July 22, 2019.

The Scope of RoHS

RoHS Directive of the European Union covers an extensive scope of products, including almost all of electronic and electrical equipment, medical devices, telecommunications equipment, toys and security information products. It not only includes finished products, but also spare parts, raw materials and packaging intended for the production of the finished products, thus closely associated with the entire production chain.

Exemption of RoHS

News Updates

On January 10, 2024, the EU Commission approved the exemption for cadmium and lead in plastic profiles in electrical and electronic windows and doors containing recovered rigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The provisions took effect on January 30 2024, and expire on May 28, 2028.

In addition to products that the RoHS Directive does not apply to, there are some products that meet the definition of the RoHS Directive, but they can’t avoid their excessive use of hazardous substances due to the reason that existing technical means cannot find more appropriate substitutes or their substitutes are so expensive that they do not meet the demands of current social and economic benefit. In regard to these specific purposes, the RoHS Directive grants exemptions in Annex III and Annex IV, stipulating that if the product meets several certain rules, it can be launched on the EU market even if the material does not meet the limitation of quantity under RoHS Directive.

Annex III: Applications exempted from the restriction in Article 4(1)

Annex IV: Applications exempted from the restriction in Article 4(1) specific to medical devices and monitoring and control instruments

It should be noted that the exemption is not valid all the time, and every clause of the RoHS exemption has a period of validity. So companies should keep paying attention to the latest news of RoHS exemption and replace the voided exempted materials in their products. Maximum validity period of exemptions under RoHS 2 as of 21 July 2011 are listed as follows:

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