RoHS - WEEE - ELV

In today's worldwide manufacturing arena, manufacturers and metal finishers alike are required to produce to new standards. Not only is the US EPA restricting what materials can be used but the EU is taking it many steps further. The follow three directives define what metal finishers can apply to meet performance specifications.

RoHS - European Community Standard - Restriction of Hazardous Substances

WEEE - EU Electronics Standard - Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

ELV - EU Automotive Standard - End of Life Vehicle

The RoHS directive, EU directive 2002/95/EG, which went into effect on July 1, 2006 in Europe, mandates that electrical and electronic products put in the market within the European Union (EU) shall contain a restricted level of the following substances:

Lead (Pb)

Cadmium (Cd)

Mercury (Hg)

Hex-Chromium (Cr⁶)

PBB’s

PBDE’s

The 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. The RoHS / WEEE Directive does not call for a total elimination of these substances

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. 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 no more than maximum concentration levels of the six restricted substances.

The definition of homogeneous materials has caused some confusion, but has been clarified as “a material that cannot be mechanically disjoined in to different materials”, such the PVC insulation on insulated copper wire.

These directives are just the beginning in a long line of new international directives aimed at protecting human health and the environment:

The state of California is initiating their version EU’s RoHS Directive, The Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 which is now in effect. (20 other states in the United States have bills pending for RoHS-like regulations.)

·    China’s Regulation for Pollution Control of Electronic Products (RPCEP), is modeled after RoHS but has more restrictions is scheduled to go into effect around August 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.

A similar version of this directive (ELV) is also in effect for automobiles built or sold within the European Union (EU). End of Life Vehicle (ELV) mandates materials used in the manufacture are considered though the end of the vehicle’s life i.e. when the vehicle is scraped.

With the RoHS directives upon us, company engineers and project managers now seek finishing sources that employ RoHS compliant processes and can certify to those guidelines. PowderTech is dedicated to the use of RoHS, WEEE, and ELV compliant chemistries to complete their finishing processes and conform to an ever changing global manufacturing environment.