In early 2004, ERA carried out an investigation for the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on behalf of the WEEE and RoHS Technical Adaptation Committee (TAC) concerning approaches to RoHS compliance. ERA recommended that self-declaration was an appropriate approach and that compliance should be based on materials declarations with analysis being carried out only where there is doubt over declarations or to audit suppliers.

Recent developments Since this work was carried out, the DTI has incorporated many of ERA’s recommendations in its draft guidelines accompany the UK’s draft implementing regulations. Equipment manufacturers need to be able to follow the same procedures in all EU Member States but very little guidance has been published outside the UK.

Approaches to compliance with RoHS legislation was one of the topics discussed at a recent TAC working group meeting held in Brussels and attended by Paul Goodman of ERA. While no decisions were made, it was clear that all Member States believe that self declaration is appropriate for RoHS compliance and this should be based on materials declarations. Analysis is not a requirement but will be required where the producer has doubts or no information from suppliers. Due diligence would be acceptable as a defence if the authorities find a restricted substance. However they have the right to require the producer to remove non-compliant equipment from the market, usually a more severe penalty than a fine. Manufacturers will need to be very careful to avoid non-compliance and, in many cases, some analysis will be advisable to avoid mistakes.

Understanding how to comply
Compliance with the RoHS Directive is not like compliance with other Directives. There is no standard test for the equipment and ERA has produced a guide to compliance and is also running courses at ERA in Leatherhead. The first course, held in February, was sold out. Steve Andrews from the DTI and a TAC representative attended and answered questions. It is hoped that one of his colleagues from the DTI will attend the next course to be held in April.

ERA is working with many companies on compliance issues.

	ERA provides opinions on the WEEE and RoHS status of equipment and in some cases whether any exemptions are applicable
	ERA analyses components to determine whether they can be used in RoHS compliant equipment and if not, what changes are required
	Many European manufacturers import equipment and sub-assemblies from over-seas, frequently from China. There is currently no standard auditing procedure and it is difficult to determine whether a supplier fully understands the RoHS requirements and is diligent in not using restricted substances. ERA is assisting manufacturers with developing audit documentation that they can send to their overseas suppliers

Materials Declarations
One of the main difficulties manufacturers are reporting is obtaining materials declarations. Many tell us that they receive responses to their requests from less than 20% of their suppliers. Unfortunately, there are no standard materials declarations yet. There is uncertainty over how much information to include and frequently it is difficult to obtain this data from suppliers.

ERA recommends that declarations are:

	Simple and need to include only the six RoHS substances, others are optional unless the supplier provides these for other reasons (such as the WEEE Directive)
	Concentrations must be based on homogeneous materials, not whole components
	The absence of the restricted substance should be explicitly stated to avoid uncertainty
	Declarations (like product data sheets) should be downloadable from websites to save suppliers, and their customers, hours of work. This will help make compliance a matter of simple routine

Next steps
For further information telephone +44 (0)1372 36744 or email.