In late 2002 the European Parliament approved two directives related to the reduction of electrical and electronic waste, namely the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directives. The WEEE Directive aims to regulate the reuse, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment; the ultimate goal is to prevent the disposal of this waste.

In the RoHS Directive, the use of the aforementioned substances in most electrical and electronic equipment will be banned or severely restricted. The RoHS Directive calls for the elimination of these substances from most electronic equipment starting 1 July 2006. Our products are SGS certified for the RoHS compliant levels of Lead, Mercury, Cadmium and Hexalent Chromium.

End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV)

  End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) regulations set limits for the following substances:

• Lead
• Mercury
• Cadmium
• Hexavalent Chromium

Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS)

  The Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations set limits for the following substances:

• Lead
• Mercury
• Cadmium
• Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)
• Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)

To certify to the above compliances, these substances must not be intentionally added to the product AND cannot exceed the following maximum allowable levels as a trace substance:

0.1% (1,000 ppm) for: Lead*, Mercury, Hexavalent Chromium, PBB and PBDE
0.01% (100 ppm) for: Cadmium

*Lead as an alloying element in copper alloys is allowed up to 4.0% (40,000 ppm); in steel up to 0.35% (3,500 ppm) is allowed; in aluminum alloys up to 0.40% (4,000 ppm) is allowed.

These requirements must be applied at the homogeneous material level. Since RoHS compliance is a stricter standard than ELV compliance, parts that are RoHS compliant are also ELV compliant. The draft of the European Union's RoHS directive is available here.