RoHS (EU Hazardous Substances Directive)

RoHS — Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive — is European Union Directive 2011/65/EU (the “RoHS recast” or RoHS 2; further amended by 2015/863, sometimes called RoHS 3) restricting ten hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment placed on the EU market. It is mandatory for CE marking of EEE.

Scope

RoHS limits the concentration of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE, and four phthalates (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP) in homogeneous materials. Compliance is declared via supplier declarations and confirmed via material analysis or full material declarations in IPC-1752A, IEC 62474, or BOMcheck formats. PLM systems carry the per-component declarations and roll them up to assembly-level compliance reports.

Relationships (see sidebar)

• Normative for the Part Master (substance content), Classification Schema, and AML declarations.
• Companion to REACH, WEEE, and the CE marking regime.

Steward

European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment.