The RoHS (Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment) Directive for electrical and electronic equipment states that by July 1, 2006 most equipment sold in the EU must be essentially free of six substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).
2. What are the Hazardous Substances restricted by RoHS?The RoHS directive requires that manufacturers be able to demonstrate minimal levels of the following identified substances:
Lead-free is usually interpreted as having no lead components. RoHS restricts the use of lead to < 0.1% wt. of homogeneous substance. There are exemptions for high temperature internal solder, lead in glass in electronic components, etc.
5. Link to EU RoHS fileRequirements of the Directive is listed in the following web site to allow manufacturers to have a brief understanding of the requirements.