1.0 RoHS Compliance Definition

The definition and aim of the RoHS directive is quite simple. The RoHS directive aims to restrict certain dangerous substances commonly used in electronic and electronic equipment. Any RoHS compliant component is tested for the presence of Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg), Hexavalent chromium (Hex-Cr), Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). For Cadmium and Hexavalent chromium, there must be less than 0.01% of the substance by weight at raw homogeneous materials level. For Lead, PBB, and PBDE, there must be no more than 0.1% of the material, when calculated by weight at raw homogeneous materials. Any RoHS compliant component must have 100 ppm or less of mercury and the mercury must not have been intentionally added to the component. In the EU, some military and medical equipment are exempt from RoHS compliance. The RoHS directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state. It is closely linked with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic e-waste.

Examples of product components containing restricted substances

RoHS restricted substances have been used in a broad array of consumer electronics products. Examples of leaded components include:

• paints and pigments
• PVC (vinyl) cables as a stabilizer (e.g. power cords, USB cables)
• solders
• printed circuit board finishes, leads, internal and external interconnects
• glass in television and photographic products (e.g. CRT television screens and camera lenses)
• metal parts
• lamps and bulbs
• batteries

Cadmium is found in many of the above components, examples include plastic pigmentation, nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries and CdS photocells (used in night lights). Mercury is used in lighting applications and automotive switches, examples include fluorescent lamps (used in laptops for backlighting) and mercury tilt switches (these are rarely used nowadays). Hexavalant chromium is used for metal finishes to prevent corrosion. Polybrominated biphenyls and diphenyl Ethers/Oxides are used primarily as flame retardants.

RoHS is not the only environmental standard of which electronic product developers should be aware. Manufacturers will find that it is cheaper to have only a single bill of materials for a product that is distributed worldwide, instead of customizing the product to fit each country's specific environmental laws. Therefore, they develop their own standards, which allow only the strictest of all allowable substances.

Benefit of RoHS:
	1)      Increase of communication across the supply chain serves as a platform for the implementation of REACH and other initiatives.
	2)      Tighter process control, overall reduced number of defects and increased production efficiency (contradicts information appearing elsewhere in the report)
	3)       Increased skill levels in the global workforce due to retraining and the knowledge transfer to Asia and less developed countries (assumes that globalization is driven by RoHS). In addition, "Japanese people and knowledge are seeking inspiration in Europe and the US" (the condescension toward Japan is hard to understand given the statistics on innovation contained within the report).
	4)      Less leaching in landfills because WEEE contains less hazardous material and increased incentives for recycling because lead-free solder contains silver and gold
	5)     Pressure on other sectors (such as aerospace and IT industrial controls) and countries to move to cleaner processes and reduced use of hazardous materials (such as China RoHS and Korea RoHS)
	6)      Competitive advantage for EU manufacturers in markets where RoHS legislation is pending or contemplated

Criticism of RoHS:

Adverse effects on product quality and reliability, plus high cost of compliance (especially to small business) are cited as criticisms of the directive, as well as early research indicating that the life cycle benefits of lead-free solder versus traditional solder materials are mixed. 

One criticism of RoHS is that the restriction of lead and cadmium does not address some of their most prolific applications, while being costly for the electronics industry to comply with. Specifically, the total lead used in electronics makes up only 2% of world lead consumption, while 90% of lead is used for batteries (covered by the battery directive, as mentioned above, which requires recycling and limits the use of mercury and cadmium, but does not restrict lead). Another criticism is that less than 4% of lead in landfills is due to electronic components or circuit boards, while approximately 36% is due to leaded glass in monitors and televisions, which can contain up to 2 kg per screen.

Restricting lead content in solders for electronics requires expensive retooling of assembly lines and different coatings for the leads of the electronic parts. Low-lead solders have a higher melting point (up to 260 °C, instead of just 180 °C), requiring different materials for chip packaging and for some circuit boards; the overheating also precludes the use of components that cannot survive the higher temperature. Low-lead solders are also harder, resulting in slow development of cracks (instead of plastic deformation, as the softer Sn-Pb solder does) because of thermal expansion and contraction as some parts heat up and cool down during operation, thus significantly impairing long-term reliability and device lifetime.