China’s electronics industry is getting its RoHS act together, claims test house Soldetec Global.
“In the last six months, we are seeing from China many more products where it is hard to find non-compliant parts,” Soldertec marketing manager Tom Perrett told
EW. There are more products that pass all the tests, but Perrett added: “These are still a fairly low percentage of the total.”
Some products are still totally non-compliant. “We have seen product from Asia that is labelled RoHS-compliant, and most certainly isn’t compliant,” said Perrett. “These could be mistakes, or where a batch has been run down a non-compliant solder line because lead-free one was fully-loaded.”
UK-based manufacturers should not be complacent, as random testing by several industry insiders using hand-held XRF testers - which easily identify banned metals - show few products are fully-compliant whatever their country of origin.
EW asked Perrett where to look first with an XRF gun. “The power cord,” he said. “The PVC often contains lead.”
See also: Electronics Weekly's RoHS Directive and UK RoHS regulation, a roundup of content related to the RoHS Directive.