Overview of the most popular EU ROHS directive exe

Overview of EU ROHS directive exemption

Abstract

this paper summarizes the latest status of EU ROHS directive exemption provisions, focusing on the exemption applications submitted by the electronic industry and the exemption provisions approved by the European Commission

introduction

in the past two years, although many articles have introduced the exemption provisions of the EU ROHS directive. However, most of the articles are not only wrong, but also misunderstood by readers. Even though some articles are correct, they do not provide a comprehensive overview of the exemption. This article outlines all the exemption applications submitted by the electronic industry, also details all the exemptions approved by the European Commission, and lists all the exemptions that have been voted by the European Commission for technology adaptation (TAC) but have not been officially approved by the European Union. 2 Build a batch of exemption applications officially published in magazines of characteristic industrial bases

EU ROHS directive

since February 13, 2003, ROHS has become an EU law that requires adding bubble stabilizer when adopting mechanical foaming. RoHS limits Pb, Hg, CD, cr6+, PBBs and PBDEs. The implementation date is July 1st, 2006, which means that from this date, except for those exempted equipment [1, 2, 3, 4], EEE (electronic and electrical equipment) containing these six restricted substances cannot be put on the EU market. The EEE (electronic and electrical equipment) categories involved in the EU ROHS directive are as follows:

1, large household appliances

2. Small household appliances with rising prices

3. It and communication equipment

4. Consumer equipment

5. Lighting equipment

6. Electrical and electronic tools (except large fixed industrial tools)

7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment

8. Medical devices (except implantable and infected products) [not controlled by ROHS directive]

9. Monitoring and control equipment [not controlled by ROHS directive]

10. Vending machine

it should be noted that up to today, categories 8 and 9 are still not controlled by ROHS directive. Many people mistakenly believe that these products are exempted. In fact, they are not subject to RoHS control, that is, they do not need to comply with ROHS directives at all. Since September, 2005, the European Commission has hired a consultant to investigate these two types of products. If the European Commission decides to propose to bring these two types of products into the jurisdiction of RoHS, it is hoped that the proposal will not be submitted to Parliament and the Council at the end of 2007 (according to comitology rules). Therefore, we do not want to see any new restrictive measures implemented before 2010, the earliest date if all votes/rulings are passed

China issued its own RoHS Directive on February 28th, 2006, which came into force on March 1st, 2007

definition of x-free (such as Pb free)

the European Union has officially published the maximum allowable weight ratio [mcv] of six hazardous substances in uniform materials in its official magazine on August 18, 2005 [6]. It stipulates that the maximum allowable weight ratio of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in uniform materials for various purposes shall not exceed 0.1%, and the maximum allowable weight ratio of cadmium content shall not exceed 0.01%. In other words, for example, in electrical and electronic equipment, the definition of lead-free is that the lead content in various uniform materials of the equipment must be less than 0.1% of the weight of the material

uniform material

according to the guidelines of the European Commission, the definition of uniform material is as follows:

(1) uniform material refers to a material state that cannot be split and refined by mechanical methods

(2) the term "uniform" means exactly the same composition. Examples of uniform materials include a single type of plastic, ceramics, glass, metal, alloy, paper, wood, resin and coating

(3) the term "mechanical disassembly" means that materials can be separated by mechanical methods in principle, such as white disassembly, cutting, crushing, grinding, grinding and other processes

examples are as follows:

(1) is the plastic shell made of uniform material? If it is only composed of particles of one type of plastic with oxidative wear (chemical wear or corrosion), and there is no coating or other materials on the surface or inside. In this case, the maximum allowable weight ratio of RoHS directive can be applied to plastics

(2) the cable composed of metal wires wrapped by non-metallic insulating materials is an example of non-uniform material, because it can be divided into different materials through mechanical process. In this case, the maximum allowable weight value of RoHS directive can be applied to various materials after disassembly

(3) a semiconductor package contains a variety of uniform materials, including plastic molding materials, tin plating on the pin frame, frame alloy and bonding gold wire

about TAC (technical adaptation Committee)

tac has 25 members, and each member represents their own country. TAC has the maximum authority. Its role is to provide technical changes and exemptions, and also to interpret the EU ROHS directive. They report to the European Commission. All members will receive the same information from the members, but they do not have the same voting rights. Some member states (such as Germany and the United Kingdom) will have a greater proportion of voting rights than others (such as Greece)

release of EU ROHS decree

Figure 1 shows a very simple flow chart to show how the EU ROHS decree is issued. It can be seen that after the TAC voted on a project, the European Commission discussed with the Parliament and the Council. If the parliament passes, the members will sign it and publish it in the official magazine of the European Union, which will officially become law

rohs exemption application

up to now, the industry has submitted a total of five different batches of exemption applications. The details are as follows:

the first batch of exemption applications (submitted by the industry on July 5, 2004)

1. Mercury in special-purpose straight tube fluorescent lamps

2. Lead in solders for servers, storage and storage array systems, and in solders for network infrastructure equipment for switches, signal transmission and transmission, and communication network management

3. Lead in bulb glass

4. Lead in ultra-high density media compliant needle connection system

5. Lead in coating material for C-ring of heat conduction module

6. Lead and chromium in optical glass and filter glass

7. Lead content in solders composed of more than two elements used to connect microprocessor pins and packages should be greater than 80% and less than 85%

8. Lead in high melting point solder (for example, tin lead solder alloy with lead content exceeding 850%)

9. Lead in solder used to realize reliable internal electrical connection of some integrated circuit packages (flip chip)

second batch