Vale Inco Nickel & Compliance to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive
Europe has issued a directive on Vehicle End-of-Life, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, followed by another directive on Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). Certain consumer products must be free of key hazardous materials so that it does not produce an environmental or human health concern in the product manufacturing chain and upon disposal. To be marketable in the European Union, certain consumer products must contain materials containing less than 0.1% lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE), and less than 0.01% cadmium (Cd). Many companies set lower limits in the parts per million range to provide assurance to themselves that the final products will easily comply.
Which products are affected?
Household appliances.
IT and telecommunications equipment.
Consumer electronics
Lighting.
Electrical and electronic tools (except large scale stationary industrial tools).
Toys, leisure and sports equipment
Personal Vehicles
There are several exemptions for batteries, cathode ray tubes, and certain electronic solders.
China's RoHS
On December 31, 2005, China’s Ministry of Information Industry passed "Management Methods on Prevention and Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products", a regulation similar to the E.U. RoHS. China's RoHS comes into effect the same date as the the EU RoHS. China makes its own RoHS unique with:
- "Safe-use” period marking on products or in product manuals
- Toxic-substance content marking on products or in product manuals
- Recyclability marking on products or in product manuals
- Material-content marking on product packaging or in product manuals
© Vale 2010
Last Updated: Thursday, May 27, 2010
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