Directive 2002/95/EC, well known as the EU-RoHS directive, came into force on 1st July 2006. The world didn't change fundamentally on this day of course, and most consumers are unaware that it exists, but RoHS legislation has had a huge effect on the electronics industry and is being "policed" by an increasing number of EU RoHS enforcement bodies. The UK's enforcers, National Weights and Measure Laboratory (NWML) started work one year in advance and so were ready on day one, whereas other Member States' bodies have only started work more recently.
Two approaches to enforcement are being used; by audit of documentation and by selective analysis of purchased products. Also, Customs of some States are checking imports. The experience of NWML is that currently over 90% of products are not fully compliant, most having just one or two components present that contain a RoHS substance. Re-work of lead-free soldered products is a particularly common problem. The use of obsolete components that have tin/lead termination coatings and screws with hexavalent chromium passivation coatings are other common causes of non-compliance. Where a non-compliant product is identified, the approach taken by NWML is to work with the producer towards full compliance. Many producers have already been contacted for documentation to show that all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure compliance. Some have been slow to respond but no one has yet been prosecuted. According to NWML, 15% of those contacted claimed, incorrectly in the opinion of the authorities, that their products are out of scope of RoHS and another 15% had inadequate documentation.
Many questions still remain unanswered. Scope is still being discussed by the European Commission and the Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) with the status of "fixed installations", cables and luminaires remaining unclear. As RoHS is a single market directive (Article 95) the scope is supposed to be the same in all member states but unfortunately, there are variations. Holland for example regards car radios sold to users as being in scope contrary to the EC's published guidance. Equipment such as electric heaters and air conditioning that is bolted to walls is regarded as being in scope by some States but outside scope in others. The status of large industrial machines is also unclear, regarded by some as large-scale stationary industrial tools (out of scope) and by others simply as tools and so in scope.
There are also difficulties over chemical analysis to determine if a product is compliant. Techniques are still being developed but an international IEC standard for chemical analysis did not gain sufficient support from its members, mainly because of poor results from trials to evaluate the methods for flame retardants and for hexavalent chromium. RoHS enforcement bodies are currently targeting the more obvious candidates for RoHS testing using analytical screening methods such as XRF. They may however need to rely on advanced analytical techniques in the future for applications where very small amounts of non-compliant substances are present to provide evidence for prosecutions.
Exemptions are the other main problem. There are now 29 exemptions with many more requests being evaluated. The exemption request procedure is very lengthy, some having taken several years from the date of application to be granted, which is an obvious problem for manufacturers. Many manufacturers cannot yet produce compliant products because they believe that there are no alternatives to specific applications that they use, and they are waiting for a final decision on an exemption request. Some manufacturers have stopped making products with consequential loss of profits whereas others are continuing production and are hoping that the authorities will allow this while the exemption request is under review. NWML suggest that manufacturers in this position should not stop production and NWML will closely follow the exemption request process and take action only when it becomes clear that the request is not going to be accepted. However, enforcement authorities in other Member States may not be so helpful.
One of the agreed exemptions is "Decabromodiphenyl ether in polymeric applications". Although it seems to be reasonable to grant an exemption for the use of this substance that has no known harmful effects on health or the environment, it is causing great controversy. Denmark and the European Parliament are taking the Commission to the European Court over this issue as they say that there are alternatives. This is true but for certain types of polymer all of these are either harmful substances or have not been as extensively tested as Decabromodiphenyl ether and so potentially, they could be more hazardous. To make this issue even more complicated, it is unclear whether this exemption is intended to cover commercial grades of Decabromodiphenyl ether or only high purity material that was not available in commercial quantities until very recently.
The Commission is continuing to receive requests for exemptions, as there is currently no time restriction on these. However, there have been many requests for "life-time-buys" and for the continued use of lead solders, but all of these have been rejected.
ERA Technology carried out a review of the RoHS directive during 2005/6 to determine whether Categories 8 and 9 could be brought within its scope in the future. The answer is yes, but manufacturers will need time to comply, at least until 2012 and at least 20 new exemptions will be required. The RoHS directive has been in force for less than a year and is already being reviewed by the European Commission and changes may occur in the future. Any changes are possible including adding more substances to the list or changing the scope. The closely related WEEE directive is also being reviewed including its scope on which the scope of RoHS is also based. It is likely that changes will be made in the near future and these are unlikely to reduce the scope, an increase is more likely.
The RoHS directive has already met its main aim with compliant products reducing the quantity of the six RoHS substances used in equipment sold in the EU. Critics point out that no full life cycle analysis has been carried out and so it is not known whether the alternative materials are better or worse for the environment. Also, significant quantities of RoHS substances are still used in exempt forms, in excluded products and in other industries which do not yet have these restrictions. However there are benefits as RoHS is just one of several pieces of EU legislation that aims to reduce the use of toxic materials. Recycling of WEEE should be safer, particularly in third world countries where uncontrolled recycling processes are used. Recycling RoHS compliant equipment will expose workers to a reduced quantity of toxic substances although this does not eliminate all risks; only better controls of the processes can do this.
In future, production of RoHS compliant equipment will be normal and the use of lead-solders will become increasingly unusual. Products that do not currently need to comply with RoHS will increasingly be affected by the on-going changes within the electronics industry. Some products in the medical, monitoring and control, automotive and aerospace industries have already changed and many more will be effectively "RoHS-compliant" in the next few years. Toxic substance restrictions will always increase and so manufacturers are advised to pre-empt future legislation, such as the EuP Directive or the new REACH regulations, by making changes as soon as it is convenient rather than when forced to by legislation.
DIRECTIVE DECODER
