RoHS & WEEE FAQ

A. RoHS (usually pronounced as "rosh" or "roz") stands for the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances" and is a European Union initiative to reduce the level of certain toxic substances entering the waste stream.

The RoHS directive, which can be found here (PDF), restricts the use of six specific substances formerly used in electrical and electronic equipment.

The directive is implemented in the UK by means of "The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006" (Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 1463), a copy of which can be found here (PDF).

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Q. What are the six substances?

A. The following table shows the restricted substances and their maximum allowed concentrations in each homogenous part of a product.

Restricted substance	Max. concentration (by weight)
Lead	0.1%
Hexavalent chromium	0.1%
Mercury	0.1%
Polybrominated biphenyls	0.1%
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers	0.1%
Cadmium	0.01%

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Q. When did the Regulations come into force?

A. The UK RoHS Regulations took effect from 1st July 2006.

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Q. What about stock already in the supply chain at that time?

A. The effective date applies to product "available for sale." The regulations do not apply to finished stock which was imported into the UK and on our shelves before 1st July.

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Q. Are all products affected?

A. No. Products which are used only as component parts of a fixed installation in a building and which have no direct function away from the installation are not required to comply with the RoHS regulations. Other equipment such as amplifiers which can be used independently of a fixed installation falls into Category 4 of the regulations – consumer equipment – and is thus covered by the legislation.

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Q. Are all relevant products now RoHS-compliant?

A. Yes. In fact all product imported since March 2006, including the fixed installation items, is certified fully compliant.

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Q. How do you ensure that imported products comply?

A. Blake and Proception have built long-term close working relationships with Far-Eastern suppliers. Our principal supplier takes RoHS compliance very seriously and has an active materials testing programme using their own X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer facilities. The manufacturer's facilities in Taiwan and China operate under quality and environmental management systems independently certified to ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 by SGS United Kingdom Ltd. Component and materials selection and procurement procedures ensure that only RoHS compliant materials are used. Where necessary manufacturing processes have been modified during 2005-06 for RoHS compliant production (e.g. lead-free soldering processes).

In addition Proception has established contact with an XRF test facility in the UK and has undertaken finished product testing.

Each shipment of Far-Eastern manufactured product is accompanied by a certificate of conformity to the RoHS concentration limits. All product is traceable to week of manufacture and the UK landed date through our 5-digit product batch coding system.

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Q. Do you have a RoHS compliance statement or certificate?

A. Yes, a statement is available here.

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Part 2 – WEEE

Q. What is WEEE?

A. WEEE stands for "Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" and is a European Union initiative to reduce the amount of unwanted electrical and electronic equipment being dumped in landfill tips. In particular the WEEE directive makes producers of equipment responsible for the cost of collecting, processing and recycling waste, and sets recycling targets. The directive can be found here (PDF) with a subsequent amendment here (PDF).

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Q. When does it come into force?

A. Implementation in the UK has been delayed, but it is expected that WEEE legislation will now be fully in force by 1st July 2007.

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Q. What's the WEEE marking?

A. The crossed-out wheelie bin symbol, which has been required since August 2005, is used to indicate equipment which should not be disposed of with general household waste. The horizontal bar underneath the bin indicates items which were first placed on the market after August 2005. Some manufacturers may use a date code instead of this bar.

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Q. How are Proception products affected?

A. Some products are within the scope of the expected WEEE legislation and these already carry the marking. Other products which are used only as component parts of a fixed installation in a building and which have no direct function away from the installation are expected to be outside the scope of the WEEE legislation. Amplifiers which can be used independently of a fixed installation fall into Category 4 – consumer equipment – and are expected to be within the scope of WEEE.

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Q. Will you be accepting waste product back?

A. Not directly. Proception expects to meet its legal WEEE obligations through membership of an approved compliance scheme, such as Valpak. Collection facilities for WEEE will be established at local authority waste facilities and may also be offered by some retailers and wholesalers.

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