Europe

Companies selling electrical and electronic goods in the EU must conform to the EU legislation for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), which includes:

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE), which sets out the financial and other responsibilities of EEE producers with regard to the collection and recycling of waste from a broad range of EEE at their end of life.

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), which bans the use of certain hazardous substances (such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and some polybrominated flame retardants) in EEE.

For further details on regulations applicable in various geographies, refer to this link: http://www.standardsmap.org/identify

China

China: “Measures for Administration of the Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products (EIP)”, commonly known as RoHS, is intended to restrict the use of hazardous materials in electrical and electronic equipment. All products manufactured on or after March 1st 2007 for sale in China must adhere to stage 1 requirements.

Products imported into the country for the purpose of re-export or for manufacturing of other export products are excluded. The following requirements need to be adhered to:

• The hazardous substances which come under the ambit of this measure are Lead (Pb), Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+), Mercury (Hg), Cadmium (Cd), Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBBs) and Polybrominated Diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). If an EIP doesn’t contain any of these, then the following symbol needs to be used:
  
• If any of the above mentioned hazardous substance is present above the maximum concentration value, then the following symbol needs to be used, with the number inside it representing the Environmental Friendly Use Period (EFUP):
  
• The user manual of the EIP should contain table of names and contents of toxic and hazardous materials if the product contains them in quantities above the maximum concentration values. China’s maximum concentration values are 0.1 %for all hazardous substances other than cadmium for which the level is set at 0.01 %.
• Packaging of EIPs should be in accordance with the GB18455- 2001 standard.

China Compulsory Certification (CCC) mark is required to be obtained by the manufacturers before exporting or selling products in China. Several electronics products require CCC mark.

For further details on regulations applicable in various geographies, refer to this link: http://www.standardsmap.org/identify

South Korea

South Korea promulgated the Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles on April 2, 2007. This regulation has aspects of RoHS and WEEE.

For further details on regulations applicable in various geographies, refer to this link: http://www.standardsmap.org/identify

North America

California has passed the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 (EWRA). This law prohibits the sale of electronic devices after January 1, 2007, that are prohibited from being sold under the EU RoHS directive, but across a much narrower scope that includes LCDs, CRTs, and the like, and only covers the four heavy metals restricted by RoHS. EWRA also has a restricted material disclosure requirement