This month we provide the basics for compliance with the European Union’s Directive 2002/95/EC—“On the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment.” This directive is commonly referred to as “RoHS,” for Reduction of Hazardous Substances, or EU RoHS, now that other countries have introduced their own RoHS-like directives.

When RoHS was first announced, most of us in the electronics and electrical goods sectors paid primary attention to its inclusion of lead (Pb) in the restrictions. Most early compliance efforts were aimed at testing and measuring for lead content, so much so that the RoHS directive was often called the “lead-free” directive.

Looking back, that was a rather myopic perception. With time, the significance of the other hazardous substances in our products and production processes became more apparent. You will likely be surprised, as many were and still are, at the list below of where some of these substances can be found.

What are the six hazardous substances identified for restriction in RoHS?

They’re lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers/oxides (PBDEs).

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