RoHS Facts

Farnell is committed to becoming the distributor of choice for guiding you through the new RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment) legislation and providing you with clear information and services. We believe that the EU Directives on RoHS and WEEE are the most significant developments in electronics legislation to happen in many years and we believe it is our responsibility to assist you by providing the latest information on the directive.

It is important to note that Farnell do not manufacture any of the products we make available to our customers.

ROHS � The legislation Although the driver for "environmentally friendly" products has been prevalent for some time, it has only been in the last few years that the need to produce such products has moved from being consumer-led to a legal requirement. With more and more electrical and electronic items becoming affordable, coupled with the shorter life cycle of these products, it was becoming critical that the problem be recognised in legislation.

RoHS Legislation & Technical Manual available here
The Legislation & Technical manual includes information about where restricted substances are likely to be found, together with a detailed lead free soldering guide and a trouble shooting guide to rework and repair.

Click here to download a copy of the �RoHS Legislation & Technical Manual�

Thank you to ERA Technology for their help in compiling this manual, click here to visit the ERA Technology website

The EU Directive on RoHS is just part of an ever-increasing push for more environmentally sound manufacturing policies across the whole of industry. Launching around the same time in the European Union is the WEEE Directive (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment), which covers the recyclability of equipment. In Japan, the Consumer Appliance Law was introduced in 2001 and demanded the recycling of a number of domestic electrical items. It is likely that this will encompass computer equipment in 2006. Although there is little or no federal legislation similar to RoHS or WEEE in the United States currently, the state of California has announced legislation effectively mirroring the EU Directives. .

Which products are affected?

• Household appliances.
• IT and telecommunications equipment.
• Consumer equipment.
• Lighting.
• Electrical and electronic tools (except large scale stationary industrial tools).
• Toys, leisure and sports equipment.
• Automatic dispensers

There are some exemptions to the rules. Certain materials covered by the RoHS Directive are exempt in a number of cases, although this list is currently under review. This is likely to take some time to be ironed out and further exemptions / amends will need to be supported with appropriate evidence and agreed at a Europe-wide level.

What is the rest of the world doing?

Japan
As the world's number one developer and manufacturer of electronic
components and PCBs, the entire electronics assembly industry has begun to pursue aggressively the removal of lead from the manufacturing process. This was started back in 1998 when the Japanese government increased levies for recycling leaded equipment. The target the Japanese government put in place is a removal of over 90% of lead by the end of 2003. This does not cover offshore manufacturing, affecting only domestic production. The Japanese Electronic Industry & Technology Association (JEITA) is already working hard on developing manufacturing processes which eradicate lead from production and are well down the line investigating tin / bismuth / zinc (Sn / Bi / Zn) alloy solders. They are also recommending the implementation of SAC305.

Europe and USA
With the implementation of the RoHS and WEEE Directives at member state level, it is estimated that Europe is around a year behind Japan's aggressive environmental manufacturing laws, with the USA a further couple of years behind, although new electronics legislation, referred to in an article in Inform* as �passed in September 2003 in California which includes measures referred to as the California RoHS, may compel an acceleration of compliance with the EU�s material restrictions. The new law contains �RoHS-equivalency� measures, which prohibit the sale of any electronic product in the state that would be prohibited from Sale in the EU because of the presence of heavy metals. This new law makes California the first state to legislatively address the toxicity of electronic products with the deadline for compliance being January 2007 rather than the EU deadline of July 2006.�
*INFORM is an independent research organization that examines the effects of business practices on the environment and on human health.

Asia
It is reported in an article by Terry Costlow published in Todays Engineer that � �International interest in ecology continues to rise, even among countries that traditionally looked the other way. China, whose lax laws have made it a veritable dumping ground for electronic products and other harmful materials, has taken uncharacteristically aggressive action. It adopted RoHS in its strictest form and does not, to date, plan to allow any of the exemptions or extensions that are already softening the regulation�s impact in Europe. China�s strict adherence to RoHS may pose a real problem in the coming years for companies that export RoHS-targeted goods to China�.

�Innumerable small and medium-sized electronics manufacturers in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan and China have been slow to appreciate the Directives' requirements. With crucial customers at risk, they now face the challenge of adapting production processes in line with EU requirements. The same firms are also likely to supply companies in Japan, which has recently enacted its own stringent recycling legislation.
Many businesses in developing countries accept that they will have to get better at steering a course through these standards, indeed some countries have little choice given the importance of electronics exports to their economies. Thailand, for example, has created a high-level governmental committee specifically to monitor the WEEE and RoHS Directives and develop a plan of action.�
(The above paragraph taken from �Environmental Expert.com� originally published in 2003 and republished with permission of The Ends Report).