The EU RoHS Directive: Big Issues LingerBy Tim McGrady, President and Principal Scientist of Serious Science, Cortland, N.Y.

As of July 1, 2006, all new electrical and electronic products put on the European Market and falling under the scope of the European Union directive "Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (RoHS) have to comply with its requirements. Every "homogeneous material" within covered products is restricted to maximum concentrations of 0.1% by weight lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE and a maximum of 0.01% by weight cadmium. To the uninitiated, these requirements seem reasonable and clear. But to those who have studied the EU RoHS Directive and its implications, the requirements are as clear as mud.

The European Union (EU) Commission has published a guidance document for RoHS, but on the bottom of every page is the phrase: "not legally binding." When pressed, EU officials say that only the European Court of Justice may make binding interpretations of Community legislation. In other words, legislators write the laws, but it is up to the courts to determine what they mean. Following this statement to its logical conclusion, in order to know what constitutes infractions of RoHS, we will have to wait for convictions of those accused of infractions. The guidance offered by the EU Commission is somewhat helpful, but there are many issues left unsettled.

The first issue is that it is difficult to interpret the EU definition of what constitutes a "homogeneous material." The latest revision (August 2006) of the European Commission guidance document states that homogeneous materials "are individual types of plastics, ceramics, glass, metals, alloys, paper, board, resins and coatings." The document further states, "Homogeneous material means a material which cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials." In addition, "the term'‘mechanically disjointed' means that the materials can, in principle, be separated by mechanical actions such as: unscrewing, cutting, crushing, grinding and abrasive processes." One must be careful in interpreting these definitions, since the EU Commission has stated that it does not mean that a homogeneous material must be separable from another by mechanical means; they mean only that such separation is possible in principle. In the case of testing, one may employ any means of separation necessary to disjoint two homogeneous materials. For example, the common practice of stripping plating or coatings from substrates via chemical processes would be a viable means of separation for testing purposes.

An important example of interpretation issues concerns hexavalent chromium conversion coatings (CCCs). The EU Commission states that they consider coatings to be homogeneous materials, but there have been two interpretations in the coating industry as to whether CCCs meet RoHS requirements. One camp has maintained that CCCs cannot be mechanically separated from substrates without also including some of the substrate with the coating; therefore, this camp concludes, CCCs are part of the substrate and the

substrate is to be considered a homogenous material. If the coating and substrate are tested together for weight percent hexavalent chromium, the result is nearly always a passing value for hexavalent chromium (i.e. <0.1% hexavalent chromium). The other camp has interpreted RoHS as a ban of the use of CCCs and has decided that no hexavalent chromium may be used.

As it turns out, neither camp is correct. RoHS is not a ban; it is a "restriction." The guidance from the EU Commission states that concentrations up to 0.1% by weight will be tolerated, so hexavalent chromium could be used if its concentration is less than 0.1% by weight in a homogeneous material. The EU Commission also states that coatings are considered to be homogeneous materials. That means they consider CCCs to be homogeneous materials.

The real problem concerning CCCs is a fundamental misunderstanding of the characteristics of such coatings and how they are measured. CCCs are typically used on zinc, aluminum and cadmium substrates as corrosion inhibitors; they may be used over plating or on metals and alloys. Heavy yellow CCCs have been measured to be on the order of a few hundred nanometers in thickness. The thickness of "clear" or "precoat" CCCs has been estimated to be on the order of 10 nanometers. These coatings are a mixture of trivalent chromates, hexavalent chromates, base metal, water, proprietary salts and perhaps a few other ionic forms of chromium in valences other than three or six.

There is currently no standard method that may be used to determine the total coating mass of CCCs. Typically, coating and plating masses are measured via the "weigh-strip-weigh" technique, whereby the coated sample is weighed, the coating is chemically stripped and the dried sample is re-weighed. But in the case of CCCs, such a method in not used, since the coating thickness (and, thus, mass) is so small. Analytical balances are not accurate or sensitive enough to measure the total mass of CCCs. One could try to increase the number or surface area of samples to be measured in order to increase the overall sample mass, but the low-level sensitivity of balances is inversely proportional to the mass to be measured (i.e., as the mass increases, so does the minimum mass, which can be accurately measured). So it seems that even "in principle," the total mass of CCCs cannot be accurately determined whether mechanical or chemical separation is employed.

The implication of this measurement problem is that if we cannot measure the total mass of CCCs, then we cannot measure the concentrations of hexavalent chromium in weight percent within CCCs. We can measure hexavalent chromium in CCCs, but we cannot measure the total mass of CCCs. Since determination of weight percent requires determination of a numerator (hexavalent chromium mass) and a denominator (CCC mass) in order determine a ratio, weight percent is currently not a viable measurement technique for hexavalent chromium within CCCs. That is why the one standard method used to measure hexavalent chromium in CCCs, ISO 3613, requires reporting results in mass per area (typically). General Motors’ worldwide specification GMW 3059 sets a maximum limit for hexavalent chromium in CCCs at 0.1 µg/cm2—even though the EU End-of-Life Vehicle requirements now state that the maximum concentration value (MCV) for hexavalent chromium is 0.1% by weight.

Neither IEC TC 111 WG3 nor the EU enforcement bodies have developed a means of measuring hexavalent chromium in CCCs in units of weight percent. The most recent draft of IEC TC 111 WG3's test method document references only a spot test for measuring hexavalent chromium in CCCs. That spot test can only indicate presence of hexavalent chromium and cannot be correlated with weight percent units. In a May 2006 guidance document, the EU enforcement task group made no mention of how to measure hexavalent chromium in CCCs. Since violation of RoHS allowable MCVs in homogeneous materials carries legal ramifications in the form of fines, the EU must have a legally acceptable means of determining hexavalent chromium in CCCs in units of weight percent, or the requirement is unenforceable. Similarly, if no standard method of determining hexavalent chromium in CCCs exists, companies wishing to determine if their products meet the requirements of RoHS cannot do so. In other words, if you cannot measure it, you cannot enforce it; if you cannot determine if you meet a requirement, you cannot comply with the requirement.

The measurement of RoHS substances is legal metrology, and it should be treated as such. All member states of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are bound by the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) when they put technical regulations into force. In the case of RoHS, there are provisions within the TBT Agreement that require the EU and/or its Member States to adopt international standards of measurement if they already exist (reference ISO 3613) or they "shall play a full part, within the limits of their resources, in the preparation by appropriate international standardization bodies of international standards for products for which they either have adopted, or expect to adopt, technical regulations."

But neither the EU nor its Member States have developed those methods, nor have they adopted ISO 3613 for measuring hexavalent chromium in CCCs. When EU representatives have been questioned on why they did not adopt ISO 3613 and the proper units of measurement for hexavalent chromium in CCCs, answers range from "we did not know" to "it was not the appropriate standard" because it did not express results in weight percent. One EU Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) member stated that it did not matter whether they could measure hexavalent chromium in CCCs accurately, since they could just rub the surface of metals, collect the rubbings and analyze them for percent hexavalent chromium. If the result was greater than 0.1%, the TAC member said, they could infer that the hexavalent chromium concentration was greater than 0.1% in the CCC.

In response to this statement, it was suggested that the method as described be made into an international standard, with the caveat that they would have to define how hard to rub a surface, for how long it should be rubbed and with what the surface should be rubbed. Otherwise, any number of non-equivalent methods of rubbing could be employed, with the results varying from less than 0.1% to high percentages of hexavalent chromium.

The U.S. government has said it did not seek action in the WTO for EU (or its Member States') violations of the TBT Agreement because the U.S. Trade Representative’s office

did not think the EU violated provisions of the TBT Agreement. (The RoHS directive impacts products made by European-owned companies in the same manner as it does products made by companies owned outside the EU.) This is only one provision of the TBT Agreement, and compliance with that provision does not relieve members of the WTO of their responsibilities for complying with other provisions of the TBT (such as adopting or developing appropriate standards). Another theory: the electronics industry may have convinced the U.S. government not to act, since they wanted to develop the necessary standards for RoHS themselves. Electronics industry representatives have also stated that attacking the EU on legislation meant to protect human health and the environment would be "a public relations nightmare."

Bottom line: without the proper standards in place, industry suffers. There are literally thousands of standards necessary to comply with the RoHS directive. Standard material specifications, test methods, reporting guidelines and management practices—none of these standards are in place, even though the RoHS directive took effect on July 1, 2006. Those standards offer an infrastructure by which industry buys and sells goods. Without those standards, there is duplication of effort, superfluous testing and general confusion on RoHS compliance issues.

The cost to the supply chains has been estimated in the billions of dollars. Those uncounted billions need not have been spent had the EU and/or its Member States been held to their responsibilities vis-à-vis the WTO TBT Agreement. Think about it: had industry been able to buy compliant materials prior to the RoHS directive going into effect, only a fraction of the billions spent on RoHS compliance to date would have been necessary.

Tim McGrady is the President and Principal Scientist of Serious Science, a new materials testing, consulting and research company located in Central NY. He is a founding member and Chairman of ASTM International Committee F40 on Declarable Substances in Materials. He may be reached at tim@seriousscience.com.

http://www.imrtest.com/What_we_do/RoHS_Services/rohs-faq.html

1. What is RoHS? RoHS is European Union Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. It is pronounced “ross”.

2. What hazardous substances are covered by RoHS? RoHS restricts the use of lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr6+), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Those restrictions are in addition to existing regulations, such as the 47 categories of dangerous substances restricted for use in nearly every product by EU Directive 76/769/EEC and its numerous amendments.

3. What products are covered by RoHS? The scope of RoHS is given in the EU WEEE Directive Annex IA, categories 1 -7 and 10. The following is a summary of covered product categories:

1. Large household appliances2. Small household appliances3. IT and telecommunications equipment4. Consumer equipment5. Lighting equipment6. Electrical and electronic tools (except large-scale stationary and industrial tools)7. Toys, leisure and sports equipment10. Automatic dispensers

Categories 8 and 9, which cover medical devices and measuring and control instruments, are exempt from RoHS requirements until which time the EU Commission includes them (estimates are that this will occur in 2008 or 2009).

Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) is defined as devices which are dependent on electric current or electromagnetic fields to work properly, including that equipment used to generate, transfer, or measure such currents or fields. The definition of EEE for RoHS is limited to those devices operating on a maximum 1000 Volts AC or 1500 Volts DC.

4. When do my products have to be compliant with RoHS? The RoHS Directive goes into effect on July 1, 2006. If you are selling products on the EU market, your products must be RoHS/WEEE compliant by that date. Note, however, that many manufacturers are requiring compliance from their suppliers earlier than July 1, 2006 so they can make sure they can supply finished goods to the EU.

5. What are Maximum Concentration Values (MCVs)? Maximum Concentration Values (MCVs) are limits set by the European Commission for each RoHS-restricted substance in the Commission Decision 2005/618/EC amending the RoHS Directive.  MCV limits apply to each “homogeneous material” making up a product. Note that EU officials have stated that RoHS is considered to be a ban on the listed substances, and that any intentional use of those substances is not allowed. Other EU officials have stated that the term “intentional use” has no meaning in relation to RoHS.  The MCVs are as follows:

0.1% by weight maximum for Pb, Hg, Cr6+, PBBs, and PBDEs0.01% by weight maximum for Cd

6. What is a “homogeneous material”? The term “homogeneous” is understood as “of uniform composition throughout”. Examples of “homogeneous materials” are individual types of: plastics, ceramics, glass, metals, alloys, paper, board, resins, and coatings. The Commission further states that a “homogeneous material” cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials.

7. What does “mechanically disjointed” mean? The term “mechanically disjointed” means that the materials can be, in principle, separated by mechanical actions. This means that an insulated wire is considered as two homogeneous materials: the metal wire and the plastic insulating material.

8. Are there any exemptions to RoHS? Yes. The list of exemptions is growing all the time. Exemptions may be found in RoHS and the RoHS Directive Annex. Information on pending exemptions may be found at the UK DTI website.

9. My company is based in the US. Why should we worry about RoHS? If you sell electrical or electronic equipment to any member country of the European Union, or if you sell parts or materials to companies that then sell their products on the EU market, your products are likely to be covered by RoHS. But even if your products aren’t destined for the EU market, you still may have something to worry about. First, laws such as SB 20 and SB 50 in California are already taking effect in the US, and many more are in the works here and in countries such as China, Japan, and Canada. Also, you may find that availability and reliability are issues, since the “old” products containing

restricted substances will become harder to find and more expensive to buy. For example, even though medical devices are now exempt from RoHS, manufacturers may have problems getting printed circuit boards with the tried and true tin-lead solder. That means they will have to test circuit boards with “lead-free” solders to make sure they will be as reliable as the “old” boards.

10. Where do I find information on RoHS? The following are good sources:

The United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) – they have the lead responsibility for RoHS, WEEE, ELV, and Packaging Directives in the EU. Search for “DTI” and go to the environment department, or click on the link above.

DTI - Sustainable Development and Environment: Latest TAC Committee meeting notes

Europa is the website of the European Union. Information on RoHS is available on that site, but is not as easy to find as on the DTI site. Click on any of the links below.

EUROPA - Environment

EUROPA - RoHS Directive

EUROPA - WEEE Directive

EUROPA - Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

EEA - European Environment Agency - Home

SCADPlus: WASTE MANAGEMENT

The Electronics Industry Alliance (EIA) often has free information on RoHS, but you may have to join to get full access.

iNEMI is also a good source of free information.

AeA is a good source for RoHS seminars and other information. AeANET : Advancing the Business of Technology

11. My customer has sent me a “material declaration”; why does it ask for information on substances not covered by RoHS? Material Declarations are prepared by electrical and electronic OEMs and companies throughout the supply chain. Rather than being specific to RoHS, they are a compilation of all requirements concerning restricted substances world wide. Those requirements may

be from regulations or they may be something your customer wants or needs. Material Declarations also include elements or compounds that are not restricted but either may become restricted or are needed by the company to assess other issues, such as residual value. For example, it is desirable to know the gold content of a material even though gold is not restricted, since the material may have residual value depending upon its mass and gold content.

12. Do I need to test all my products for every item on the material declarations? No. If you tried to do that, you would get a very big bill from a laboratory. First, you should try to obtain information on the concentration of RoHS and other declarable substances in your materials from your suppliers or from the manufacturer of the materials. If that information is not available, you have two real choices: 1) test each homogeneous material you use, but limit the testing to one set per unique material to avoid duplication; only test the materials for substances that are likely to be present as additives or contaminants (your lab should be able to help with this); or 2) stop doing business with that client. Note that the substances to be tested will vary from material to material; for example, it does not make sense to test steel for brominated flame retardants, but it does make sense to test for them in plastic.

In every case, it is highly recommended that you have your legal representative(s) review the material declaration before and after you fill it out. These material declarations may be used to place blame on you and/or your company in case of an infraction in the EU. Tell your legal representative(s) that the UK (and probably all other EU member states) will allow “due diligence” as a defense for infractions. That means that third parties, such as your company, may be prosecuted for infractions if your customer can show due diligence. Part of that due diligence will be based on the material declarations received from suppliers.

13. We sell populated circuit boards. How do we demonstrate compliance with RoHS? This is a difficult subject. The best and cheapest way is to get information on RoHS compliance for each material or component from your suppliers. If this is not possible, you have a difficult task. You will have to get information for each “homogeneous material” comprising your populated circuit board. It would be best to test each material BEFORE they get made into individual components. Barring that, supply enough individual parts to your lab (including samples of solders) so they may be tested – it is very difficult, if not impossible, to test every homogeneous material on a populated board for RoHS compliance. That is why ASTM International Committee F40 has proposed testing materials for compliance prior to their use in component manufacture: it is easier, and it is less costly to the entire supply chain.

14. Why can’t we just grind components into a powder, then test for RoHS compliance? Remember, RoHS compliance is based on each “homogeneous material” and not components or devices.  If a component or populated circuit board is ground up and tested, restricted substance concentrations in the homogeneous materials are diluted.  If a lab grinds up a complex component or entire product, they will not be able to state anything about RoHS compliance, since they will not know which material any restricted substances found come from, or if the restricted substance comes from an exempt application.

The grinding equipment specified by the electronics OEMs to use in grinding up components is difficult if not impossible to clean.  Plastic and low melting elements (e.g., lead) get smeared onto the blades and other surfaces of the equipment.  Also, abrasive samples such as populated circuit boards will abrade parts of the equipment such as stainless steel and contaminate the sample with chromium and/or nickel or other elements. 

For example, let’s say that a circuit board is ground up using the electronic OEM technique.  The first issue will be whether the ground sample has been contaminated by past samples or the grinding equipment.  Even if that was not an issue, let’s say the final ground sample is analyzed for TOTAL lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, PBB, and PBDE.  The analysis cannot separate exempt lead from non-exempt lead, exempt cadmium from non-exempt cadmium, and so on.  So which is the “good” lead and which is the “bad” lead?  No one can tell.  Besides, there is no way to create a certified reference material to validate the results.  So such testing is essentially WORTHLESS.  If an electronics OEM tells you to grind up your sample and you tell us to grind up your sample, we cannot state compliance.  Neither should you.  Let the OEMs have the data and let them state conformance or non-conformance based on the results.

15. This is all very confusing. Isn’t there a better way to regulate substances? While the EU has noble goals concerning protection of human health and the environment, their means of doing so cause confusion and great expense to industry.  There is a better way to do this, and the EU is bound by the World Trade Organization Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) to do things to minimize costs and unnecessary work.  Unfortunately, no sector affected by the EU hazardous substances Directives has decided to take the EU to task on the issues.  The result is that supply chains all over the world are spending billions of dollars more than necessary to comply with the EU legislation.  It is likely to get worse before it gets better, but something must be done.  If you feel your business is spending too much on compliance issues PLEASE WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN GOVERNMENT!  Government will only take action if industry says there is a problem.  Here are two people you can write to concerning RoHS issues:

Robert StraetzDept. of Commerce, International Trade Admin.14th & Constitution Ave.

Room 3632Washington, DC 20230

202.482.4496 Email

Jim SanfordDeputy Assistant USTR for European AffairsOffice of the U.S. Trade Representative1724 F Street, NW.Washington, DC 20508

202.395.3320 Email

16. What is being done to help companies comply with RoHS? ASTM International has created Committee F40 on Declarable Substances in Materials. This Committee was formed to help industry develop the standards and test methods necessary to comply with RoHS and other legislation. ASTM is working with the US government and industry trade associations to help fix this mess. If you would like to help, please feel free to get involved – email Don Shuman at IMR Test Labs.

17. What test methods are used to assess RoHS compliance? Standard test methods are under development. The EU Member States have not told anyone how they will test products for compliance, which is a violation of the WTO TBT Agreement. Meanwhile, most labs are adapting current tests to determine concentrations of RoHS substances in materials. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES), Cold Vapor Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (CVAAS), Direct Mercury Analysis (DMA), UV-VIS, GC-MS, and other techniques are currently being used.

18. What is “Due Diligence” defense? Due diligence means that you can show that you did everything “a reasonable person would do” in order to comply with the law. It also means that you may be able to show that an infraction was not due to your or your company’s actions; you may be able to show that an infraction was due to someone else’s action or inaction. Material Declarations are used to show due diligence, since they are used to get statements of compliance from suppliers. Once such a document is in the possession of a company, it may be possible to point to the document and state that there was no reason to disbelieve the information given. Then, an infraction may be assigned to a third party as if they had committed it themselves. So anyone making false, misleading, or incorrect statements on material declarations may be prosecuted as if they had committed the infraction.

19. How do I document my compliance efforts to show due diligence? Keep your test results, Certificates of Analysis, and Material Declarations in a safe, accessible place. It is recommended that you keep both hard copies and electronic copies. Make sure you keep records of everything you fill out for other companies. Also, it is important to document any changes you made to your products, production method, or materials in order to comply with RoHS – this also helps show due diligence. Keep track of costs associated with compliance as well.

20. Is plating a “homogeneous material”? According to the EU Commission, plating and coatings are “homogeneous materials”.  The problem with this view is that in chemical analysis, plating and coatings are commonly removed from substrates by chemical means, and are not “mechanically disjointed” from the substrate.  This is not such a big problem technically, however, since there are quite a few chemical methods for removing plating and coatings from surfaces.  But if the Commission or the TAC decides to specify that plating and coatings must be removed by mechanical means, we will be left with insurmountable technical challenges involved with mechanical removal of plating and coating from small, complex parts. Imagine trying to mechanically remove a 0.001” zinc coating from the surface of a galvanized screw without removing any of the steel.  Impossible?  Maybe.  Impractical?  Absolutely.

One exception to the chemical removal of coatings from substrates is hexavalent chromium conversion coatings.  Since hex chrome coatings vary in mass over time due to exposure to the environment and because hexavalent chromium coatings are often very thin (on the order of 200 nanometers), determining the total coating mass on a chromated surface is difficult if not impossible.  Besides, there exist no certified reference materials with which such a method could be evaluated, and it is unlikely that such reference materials will ever be produced.  It is the standard practice that hexavalent chromium coatings are determined in units of mass of hexavalent chromium per unit area (such as ug/cm2) instead of weight percent.  But the EU Commission has not backed away from their definition of hexavalent chromium conversion coatings as homogeneous materials, nor have they changed their MCV units of weight percent.

21. Where in “old” electronic equipment is hexavalent chromium found? Hexavalent chromium is used in two general applications in relation to electronic equipment: as a chromate conversion coating on metal surfaces to act as a corrosion inhibitor, and as pigments in plastic and ink.  Other possible applications in relation to electronic equipment are the use of hexavalent chromium in the textile, leather, and glass industries.  Note that the chromium found in a metal alloy such as stainless steel is not considered to be in the hexavalent state, and it is not environmentally available; the exception to this statement is when high chromium steels are welded, hexavalent chromium may be created and released in the fumes.

Pigment colors that may contain hexavalent chromium include red, yellow, orange, and green. 

22. What are the steps my company should take toward demonstrating RoHS-compliance of our products? The first step is education.  It is very important to understand, as much as possible, what it means to be RoHS-compliant and what products are affected by RoHS.  One of the most important things to know is that the (proposed) basis of compliance is each “homogeneous material”; that means that each material used to construct every part in every covered electrical and electronic product must comply with RoHS.  It is also important to know what is and is not exempt from RoHS.  There are several ways to go about educating yourself and your company, including attending seminars, hiring in a consultant for a seminar, and reading free information available on the internet (the best official sites are www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/ and www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/index_en.htm.)  The second step is awareness.  Make sure that upper management is aware of RoHS, when it comes into effect, why the company's products are affected, and what the potential impact on the company might be.  Most people in the know about RoHS will tell you that it is vital that leadership and support for a RoHS-compliance effort comes from upper management.  RoHS-compliance can be a costly and time-consuming endeavor, so upper management will have to be on board.  RoHS-compliance can mean that your company will have to go through big changes, including retooling, redesign, renumbering of part numbers, adjustment of purchasing practices, and editing of drawings and other internal company documentation such as material specifications.

The third step is assessment of your product line.  In a very real sense, this is risk assessment: you are trying to determine in which cases you know you are compliant, in which cases you know you are not in compliance, and in which cases you do not know if you are compliant.  Risk assessment should be conducted with “due diligence” in mind, meaning that you should do what a reasonable person would do to ensure your products comply.  That usually means you have to be able to back up your claims of compliance with statements and/or data. The following mantra should be running through your head: “What do we think, what do we know, what can we prove?”

The fourth step is to do a survey of your materials and parts suppliers.  You should ask them if their products are RoHS-compliant and if they are, ask them if they can supply either a statement to that effect or a certificate of analysis.  If not, ask them if and when they expect to be compliant or if they would be willing to get the necessary information together to support their product compliance.  That may require them to do a survey of their suppliers and/or test their products.  You may want to test their products if the statements you receive are suspect.

The fifth step is to fill in the gaps in your product compliance.  That may mean you will have to change suppliers to those who can demonstrate RoHS-compliance, or you may have to test your remaining items for compliance.  Make sure that any testing you have

done is done by a competent laboratory; the best choice is a materials testing laboratory with accreditation to ISO 17025.  It is not recommended that you engage a laboratory without the assurance that their results are trustworthy.  A key to making such a judgment is to ask the laboratory if, based on the results of testing, they will make a statement of RoHS-compliance.  If they will not do so, you may as well be throwing your money away.

The sixth and last step is to organize all the information you have gathered to back up statements of compliance for each product.  This information should be kept available in case it is requested by your clients or by an enforcement authority.  It is recommended that you keep hard copies in addition to electronic copies of the information.

23.  What is the difference between a PBDO and a PBDE? There is no difference.  These are acronyms which stand for different names of the same compounds.  So PBDOs are restricted by RoHS, because they are PBDEs.

24.  What is the official definition of “homogeneous material”? Unfortunately, there isn’t one, and there will not be an official definition.  The EU Commission says that only the European Court of Justice may decide what the definition will be.  The best advice I can give is to follow the definition(s) given in the EU Commission FAQ document or the UK DTI draft RoHS regulations, because the definitions will not appear in any official document.

25.  Should energy dispersive XRF be used to determine RoHS compliance? Because energy dispersive XRF, or EDXRF, is a quick and easy technique for measuring chemical compositions, IMR Test Labs has hoped that it would be a useful, time and cost-saving method for analysis of samples for RoHS substances.  But even the IEC TC 111 WG3 has shown in a recent round robin that the technique is not yet accurate or precise enough to yield dependable results.  We continue to hope that EDXRF will be developed into a sound, trustworthy technique for analysis of RoHS substances in a wide variety of materials.  Right now, we suggest that anyone using XRF to measure RoHS substance concentrations take care in evaluating the results.

http://www.ema-eda.com/services/RoHS.aspx

Make RoHS compliance an inherent part of your design processNow that the EU RoHS Directive has become law, companies that have not taken the necessary steps to become RoHS compliant risk having their products banned from the European market. Non-compliant product shipments may be halted outside the EU, and suppliers may be fined. RoHS-related legislation is spreading across the world to the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Australia, Korea and other countries. Environmental compliance issues that were left on the “back burner” must now be resolved with a sense of urgency.

It’s more than a manufacturing problem!Waiting until the end of the design cycle to assure RoHS compliance might be acceptable for designs currently in production, but for new designs, companies must consider RoHS compliance from the very beginning of the design phase — at the time of component selection. There is a common misconception that RoHS compliance is a manufacturing problem. "The design is done; all that is necessary now is to select the RoHS compliant parts and build it." It seems simple enough to replace non-compliant parts with compliant replacements, often called BOM scrubbing, but this is a costly approach with a number of potentially fatal problems.

Many designs contain more than 50 percent discrete parts, and these parts tend to get examined for compliance every time. This redundant compliance checking over many designs adds up to a considerable amount of time. Additionally, there's the concern that replacement parts won't be 100 percent compatible. If a component change has a negative affect on the performance of the design, you won't discover the problem until testing the prototype. This results in costly design iterations and PCB re-spins

Compliance by DesignEMA offers a unique approach. We call it Compliance by Design™. This design methodology incorporates a database containing all component data, including RoHS/WEEE information, into the schematic design tool. This allows an engineer to see part information and RoHS compliance data while selecting parts. Using this design process, an engineer can guarantee that parts used in the design are compliant. We've put together the best tools and the most comprehensive RoHS hazardous material content, so your engineering team can make RoHS an inherent part of the design process. We can help you change compliance issues from a time-consuming, complex, costly problem, to a one-time manageable cost.

The RoHS Directive (EU Directive 2002/95/EG), which became effective in Europe on July 1, 2006, mandates that electrical and electronic products (EEE) put in the market within the European Union (EU) shall contain restrictive levels of the following substances:

1. Lead (Pb)2. Cadmium (Cd)3. Mercury (Hg)4. Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+)5. Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)6. Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)

This Directive, which aims to protect human health and the environment and mirrors the Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), applies to electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric or electromagnetic fields in order to work properly. It also applies to some equipment used for the generation, transfer, and measurement of such currents and fields designed for use with a voltage rating not exceeding 1,000 volts for alternating current (AC) and 1,500 volts for direct current (DC).

The RoHS/WEEE directive does not call for a total elimination of these substances. It mandates that the homogeneous materials within complaint products, or materials that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials, contain the levels of the six restricted substances below the maximum concentration levels.

The definition of homogeneous materials has caused some confusion in the past, but has been clarified in draft guidelines published by the European Commission. Homogeneous material is defined as "a material that cannot be mechanically disjoined in to different materials", such as a plastic (ex. the PVC insulation on insulated copper wire). Components such as capacitors, transistors and semiconductor packages are not "materials" but will contain several different materials. For example, a semiconductor package will contain at least six homogeneous materials as shown below.

Who does RoHS/WEEE affect?RoHS/WEEE compliance has a direct and significant impact in the entire electronics industry. It directly affects the development and supply chain, such as purchasing, material control, marketing…all the way to R&D.

If you think your company is not affected by RoHS, please note the following:

· The state of California is initiating its own version of EU’s RoHs Directive, The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, or SB20 for short, scheduled to take effect January 2007. Twenty other states in the United States have bills pending for RoHS-like regulations.

· China’s Regulation for Pollution Control of Electronic Products (RPCEP), which is modeled after RoHS and WEEE, has more restrictions than RoHS and scheduled to go into affect around July 2006.

· The green procurement practices (JPSSI) in Japan has more stringent mandates than RoHS.

· Taiwan, Korea, Canada, and Australia are initiating versions of the RoHS directive.

RoHS affects companies who produce household appliances; IT and telecommunications equipment, lighting equipment, electrical and electronic tools, toys, sports equipment, medical devices, and eventually monitoring and control instruments, which will be regulated.

Examples of industries that are affected by RoHS legislation:

a. Service Bureausb. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM)c. Manufacturingd. Automotivee. Chemical Processingf. Electronics

Who is responsible and what is required to comply with RoHS legislation?Producers of electrical and electronic products (EEE), which include those who:

1. Manufacturer and sell their own brand of products 2. Re-sell products, produced by others, under their own brand3. Import/export products into a member state

All are responsible for ensuring their products contain information on the levels of the six restricted substances below the maximum concentration levels.

Producers are responsible for self-declaring if products comply with the RoHS directives or obtain material declarations or certificates from their suppliers. Although there are no standardized forms, these declarations need to state that materials, parts, and/or components may be used to produce RoHS compliant equipment. The authorities within the EU are conducting routine checks on products. If a product does not comply with the RoHS legislation, and producers cannot prove that they have taken reasonable steps to comply, authorities may ban the product from the EU and/or issue a penalty, including fines and/or imprisonment.

In a recent survey conducted by Electronics Supply Manufacturing, ESM, 70% of respondents wanted new part numbers for RoHS/WEEE compliant components. This, along with part availability will affect Purchasing. Purchasing departments should prepare for "end-of-life" notifications for components suppliers deem as not worth investing in to meet the RoHS/WEEE Directives.

Material Control, important for inventory storage, will be affected by physical identification, labeling policies, handling procedures. Inventory storage needs to be considered because, not only should RoHS compliant and non-compliant components be stored separately, but different components need to be stored at different temperatures. For example, lead-free components manufactured with pure tin plating should not be stored for longer than one week at temperatures below 13°C due to a phase transformation known as "Tin Pest", where the tin plating converts to a powdery form that can cause solderability and electrical continuity problems.

RoHS Compliance Issues in the Engineering World

Components and AssemblyBecause alternatives for lead-free soldering, such as tin and copper, have higher melting points than typical tin-lead solder, each component’s internal raw materials, plastics and other encapsulation materials must be analyzed for compatibility and assurance that yield, reliability, or parametric degradation does not occur with the increased soldering temperature.

Since boards manufactured at higher temperatures are also susceptible to moisture, Moisture Sensitivity Level (MSL) for each component needs to be analyzed. Interfacial delamination, popcorn-induced cracking, warping, and bond wire separation are some of the failures that can occur if MSL is not taken into account and considered.

In addition, the replacement on non-compliant components and product re-design must take into account the characteristics and assembly requirements of compliant components and soldering process. Therefore, the effect of the higher reflow temperature on the reliability of the entire assembly needs to be assessed.

LaborThe solder type used to manufacture the board may need to be identified on boards, because the effects of using two different solder compositions, one in manufacturing and a different one during repair, is unknown. Although the solder is removed during component removal, a trace of solder will still remain. Therefore, the concern is the creation of a third alloy by two different solder compositions and its effects on solder joint reliability and the temperatures needed to reflow the solder.

Protective Finishes on Printed Circuit Boards, PCB'sProtecting the copper finishes on the surfaces of PCB's is necessary to eliminate oxidation and prevent bad solder joints. Hot Air Solder Leveling (HASL) has been the preferred method used to protect the copper finishes on the surface of PCB's. Because it

uses a tin/lead alloy, other protective finishes need to be considered, most other options available have drawbacks.

One of those options is using Organic Solder Preservative (OSP). Unfortunately, OSP is sensitive to manual handling. Due to the significant changes needed to the assembly process, it’s expensive.

The most expensive finish is the Electro-less Nickel Immersion Gold, (ENIG). Pricing is about five times as much as HASL. A drawback is the “black pad” issue, where the finish becomes brittle and cracks during mechanical stress.

Currently there are restrictions in the United States for using Immersion Tin to protect the copper finishes on the surfaces of PCB's, because it contains a known carcinogen. Not only does the tin solutions have a limited number of heat cycles, but allows development of “tin whiskers”. This can develop at any time for products using lead-free pure tin coatings, has caused the loss of billions of dollars worth of electrical equipment and poses major safety / reliability issues to the users of high reliability electronics.