ROHS

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the environmental impacts of lead-free and tin-lead solder which is used in electronic /electrical products. For both paste and bar solders, all of the lead-free solder alternatives had a lower (better) LCA score in toxicity categories than tin/lead solder. This assessment will make industry redirect efforts toward products and processes that reduce solders’ environmental footprint, including energy consumption, releases of toxic chemicals, and potential risks to human health and the environment. 

How to execute ROHS in industries:

• Identify the risk in the process chain

• Analyse each stage of operations

• Find which operation is going wrong 

• Eliminate the causes to reduce risk

• Document the process

• Participation of employee

• Review your system for effectiveness

• Take corrective action for non-conformity 

Labeling :

RoHS did not require any specific product labeling, however many manufacturers have adopted their own compliance marks to reduce confusion. Visual indicators have included explicit “RoHS compliant” labels, green leaves, check marks, and “PB-Free” markings. In addition, the closely related WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) trash-can logo with an “X” through it is an indicator that the product may be compliant. Chinese RoHS labels, a lower case “e” within a circle with arrows, can also imply compliance.

Benefits of ROHS:

• Use of certain Hazardous materials is reduced in electrical and electronic equipment

• Risk is totally reduced 

• Consumer will buy with confidence

• Reduced damage to people and environment.

China:

Final Measures for the Administration of the Control and Electronic Information Products (often referred to as China RoHS) has stated the intent to establish similar restrictions, but in fact takes a very different approach. Unlike EU RoHS, where products in specified categories are included, unless specifically excluded, there will be a list of included products, known as the catalogue — see Article 18 of the regulation — which will be a subset of the total scope of Electronic Information Products, or EIPs, to which the regulations apply. Initially, products that fall under the covered scope must provide markings and disclosure to the presence of certain substances, while the substances themselves are not (yet) prohibited. There are some products that are EIPs, which are not in scope for EU RoHS, e.g. radar systems, semiconductor-manufacturing equipment, photomasks, etc. The list of EIPs is available in Chinese and English. The marking and disclosure aspects of the regulation were intended to take effect on July 1, 2006, but were postponed twice to March 1, 2007. There is no timeline for the catalogue yet.

Japan:

Japan does not have any direct legislation dealing with the RoHS substances, but its recycling laws have spurred Japanese manufacturers to move to a lead-free process in accordance with RoHS guidelines. A ministerial ordinance Japanese industrial standard for Marking Of Specific Chemical Substances (J-MOSS), effective from July 1, 2006, directs that some electronic products exceeding a specified amount of the nominated toxic substances must carry a warning label.

South Korea:

South Korea promulgated the Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles on April 2, 2007. This regulation has aspects of RoHS, WEEE, and ELV. Turkey 

Turkey announced the implementation of their Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation effective from June 2009. 

North America:

California has passed the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (EWRA). This law prohibits the sale of electronic devices after January 1, 2007, that are prohibited from being sold under the EU RoHS directive, but across a much narrower scope that includes LCDs, CRTs, etc., and only covers four of the heavy metals restricted by RoHS. EWRA also has a restricted material disclosure requirement.

Effective from January 1, 2010, the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act applies RoHS to general purpose lights, i.e. lamps, bulbs, tubes, or other electric devices that provide functional illumination for indoor residential, indoor commercial, and outdoor use.

Other US states and cities are debating whether to adopt similar laws. There are several states that have mercury and PBDE bans already. 

Republic of Ireland:

Worldwide standards and certification are available under the QC standard, governed by the National Standards Authority of Ireland, to ensure the control of hazardous substances in industrial applications. 

Sweden:

In 2012, Sweden’s Chemicals Agency (Kemi) and Electrical Safety Authority tested 63 consumer electronics products and found that 12 were out of compliance. Kemi claimed that this is similar to testing results from prior years. Eleven products contained prohibited levels of lead, and one of polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants. Details of seven companies have been passed to Swedish prosecutors. Kemi said that levels of non-compliance with RoHS are similar to previous years, and remain too high.