The Environment Agency of the three Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, and Finland) launched a RoHS directive compliance survey last year and tested 24 types of electronic toys. The results showed that the lead content in the solder materials of 3 types of toys (one of which was a remote control aircraft) exceeded RoHS directive limits. What is surprising is that these products are accompanied by complete evaluation and compliance reports showing that they comply with the RoHS Directive specifications. Therefore, the relevant authorities speculate that the reports may be fraudulent or illegal.
The RoHS directive, which came into effect on July 1, 2006, stipulates that six hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment sold to the EU must not exceed specified limits. The six restricted substances are lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and two brominated flame retardants (PBB, PBDE).
Although products that do not comply with the RoHS directive have been removed from the shelves, environmentalists are worried that although manufacturers have provided compliance reports, they may not actually comply with the requirements of the RoHS directive. There are millions of electronic devices in the EU market, and supervision and enforcement are a heavy burden for the competent authorities of each member state; therefore, some counterfeit or non-compliant products may be overlooked and still circulate in the EU market.
Another survey conducted by the Nordic authorities on 152 types of electronic products also found that 20 of them did not comply with the RoHS directive. The illegal products include excessive lead in the mouth of electric glue guns. The Swedish importer of unbranded electric glue guns from China has been punished, and these products were also sent back to China because excessive lead was found in solder and plastic.
The EU government is currently working on revising and revising the RoHS directive, and it is expected that controls will become increasingly stringent. Once the draft RoHS Directive is adopted by the EU Council of Ministers, it will be officially implemented in all member states 18 months after it is published in the EU Official Journal.
– Reference source: HKTDC 2009-03-10
– Translated by Plastics Industry Technology Development Center
– For reference only, please refer to the original text.
