Is US RoHS the same as EU RoHS?

This is a guest post by Gary Nevison, Head of Legislation, Farnell, A trading division of Premier Farnell UK Ltd.

Firstly, as this new legislation is clearly not “RoHS”, it would be misleading to talk about the US RoHS compliance.

The proposed HR2420 is very different to EU RoHS and although it is claimed to be legislation designed to control hazardous substances, its main aim appears to be preventing US States imposing substance restrictions on product within scope of this legislation. It would introduce some very limited restrictions but the exemptions list is so comprehensive that these would be very few.

So, is this to be the US RoHS that we have been waiting for?

Initially, this might appear to be so, however closer scrutiny of the scope and structure of HR2420 reveals that it is better understood as an effort to limit uncoordinated piecemeal legislation on this issue by individual states.

At present, there is no federal US equivalent to EU RoHS although some states have introduced limited RoHS-like laws.

Many manufacturers would welcome a single, uniform US RoHS law as this would remove the need to meet multiple, changing requirements across US states although others, who predominantly sell internally, may be concerned about this extra restriction.

The main implications of HR2420 are for new chemicals, or major new uses of existing ones, for example products containing substances that are not included in the Toxic Substances Control Act register require certification before they can be imported.

TSCA currently imposes very few restrictions on substances, but it does affect lead-based paints, asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls.

While the Bill proposes to restrict the same six substances as EU RoHS at the same concentration values in homogeneous materials, there are no apparent equivalents to 17 EU RoHS exemptions, and there is no use of the EU RoHS product categories.

The product scope appears quite different to EU RoHS as it seems to exclude household or consumer products and include products not covered by EU RoHS like electricity distribution equipment.

Another significant difference is that EU RoHS excludes products designed for use with voltages above 1000V AC or 1500V DC, whereas HR2420 has a limit of 300V.

The restrictions would apply to products in scope manufactured after 1 July 2010.

In summary, the scope of the Bill is quite limited, is clearly different to the EU RoHS, and mainly consists of a detailed list of exclusions and exemptions.

As the scope includes many items currently excluded from EU RoHS, the HR2420 does not appear to be a federal RoHS Bill, but more of an attempt to avoid disjointed RoHS requirements emerging for products currently outside, or on the fringe of the scope of EU RoHS.