Explanation of terms: WEEE Directive and RoHS Directive

In 1992, world leaders held the "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the past crisis caused by human blind pursuit of economic development on the earth environment, such as greenhouse effect, ozone layer destruction, acid rain, etc., at which they confirmed that "sustainable development" is the key to the sustainable survival of human generations. Since then, all countries have tried their best to put the requirements of environmental protection in their national or regional environmental protection policies, and the government has constantly issued increasingly stringent environmental protection measures, which require the enterprise community, which plays an important role in environmental protection and economic growth, to take due environmental and social responsibilities. On February 13, 2004, the European Union issued the directive on the scrapped electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) and the directive on the prohibition of the use of certain hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment (RoHS). If a heavy bomb is dropped, it will cause a great green wave in the world.

What are WEEE and RoHS instructions

WEEE Directive (EU Directive 2002 / 96 / EC): the full name of the directive is waste electrical and electronic equipment, which requires manufacturers (including importers and distributors) to be responsible for recycling and processing the waste electrical and electronic products entering the EU market, and to affix recycling marks to the new electrical and electronic products put into the EU market. (WEEE—Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipmen)。

RoHS Directive (EU Directive 2002 / 95 / EC): the full name of "directive on limiting the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment", which requires that electrical and electronic products put on the EU market shall not contain six hazardous substances, such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated biphenyls, etc. (ROHS—The Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment)。

According to the annex to the EU official announcement, the above two directives cover 10 categories and nearly 200000 kinds of products: large household appliances, small household appliances, it and communication equipment, consumer products, lighting equipment, electrical and electronic tools, toy leisure and sports equipment, medical equipment, monitoring instruments and vending machines.

WEEE Directive and ROHS directive have become the official laws within the EU since February 13, 2003. According to the WEEE Directive, from August 13, 2005, the manufacturers of electronic and electrical equipment circulating in the EU market must bear the responsibility to pay for the cost of recycling their discarded products in the legal sense. According to the RoHS directive, from July 1, 2006, all electronic and electrical equipment sold in the EU market must be prohibited from using heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, as well as smoldering agents such as PBDE and PBB.