There has been some debate recently regarding what the long awaited China RoHS legislation will look like and how it will impact on European companies exporting their products into the region.
The latest step saw the Implementation Rules of Voluntary Certification on the Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products which was adopted on 25 August and entered into force on 1 November 2011.
Also adopted on 25 August 2011 was the circular on the list of Electronic Information Products requiring Voluntary Certification (first batch) and any associated exemptions.
Other documents published recently refer to testing methods and threshold limits.
The various documents are still only officially published in Chinese with no other language generally available.At the end of each category of products requiring voluntary certification is a catch all of "other" meaning that the overall list is very comprehensive.
As a flavour the list covers "Devices" (computers, household electronics and telecommunications for example) "Peripherals" (electronic components for computer, display and printing equipment) "Parts and Components (semiconductors, optoelectronics right through to plugs and sockets) and finally "Materials (insulation boards through to glue and solder).
Exemptions for Lead, Mercury and Cadmium are laid down and so if these are used in the listed applications, the equipment can be certified and the RoHS mark applied. The majority of the exemptions refer to lead but there are also a limited number for cadmium and mercury.
Certification, sampling, testing and declaration are covered in the Implementation Rules of Voluntary Certification as is the use of the approved "RoHS" label.
Directive Decoder
Gary Nevison, Head of Legislation at 
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