ROHS

Models Currently Available:-

PHF001 - Motorola V & T Series

PHF002 - Sagem 920/930/3020

PHF003 - Sony J5/J6/J7

PHF004 - Sharp GX10/GX20

PHF005 - Nokia 3310

PHF006 - Nokia 7210

PHF007 - Nokia 5110

PHF008 - Siemens C34/C45

PHF009 - Philips C12/Savvy

PHF010 - Ericsson T28/T68

PHF011 - Ericsson T10/T18

Restriction of hazardous substances (ROHS) ROHS regulations came into law in the UK during 2007, again this was in response to an EU directive whose aim was to remove dangerous chemicals from electrical products and their manufacturing processes. There are 6 specifically named substances that have been previously common in electrical products and these were targeted by the regulations

1) Lead (Pb)

2) Cadmium (Cd)

3) Mercury (Hg)

4) Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+)

5) Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)

6) Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

The aim is to remove these substances from the various electronic components and also from the assembly process. For instance lead free solder must now be used which means that any factory that aims to comply with the requirements must be able to control both their incoming materials and equipment. In practice this means that the assembly lines for ROHS product are often totally separate to non ROHS products.

The ROHS approval process is different to the CE procedure in that the product is not generally tested by a 3rd party organisation, instead suppliers normally rely on self certification schemes where they will declare their own compliance with the regulations. It is possible to quickly check the presence of the prohibited chemicals, unfortunately this normally involves the use of a hand held scanner which can cost approximately Ł20,000. Whilst commonly used by HM Customs when checking goods imported into the country it is not really viable for many other organisations in the UK to do their own testing. As far as our own brand products are concerned we rely on completely separate production facilities of ROHS approved product, plus random batch testing in China to check that nothing has changed in the approved assembly process.

If the ROHS regulations are effective over the coming years it will mean a much lower risk to health and the environment as the waste electrical products eventually hit the landfill sites or reclamation organisations. This can only be a good thing