The Directive 2003-2002-EC, adopted by the Council of Europe in January 95, prohibits the use of the following substances in electronic cards or electronic products manufactured:

• Lead (Pb)
• Mercury (Hg)
• Cadmium (Cd)
• Plus Chrome with 6 (Cr6 +)
• Polybrominated biphenyl (PBB)
• Polybrominated biphenyl ether (PBDE)

The Council of Europe revised the Directive in 2008 and added the following to the list:

• Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
• Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP)
• Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)
• Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)

The RoHS, which gives the name of the Directive, is the initials of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive and is intended to limit the use of certain harmful substances. With this directive, the Council of Europe has already completed the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

The heavy metals and components listed above are covered by RoHS for two reasons:

• These elements are elements that threaten human health.
• If these elements are released to the environment in an uncontrolled manner and cannot be recycled, the risks posed to all living beings and to the environment are enormous.

Use of RoHS Substances

It has been a priority to protect the environment in production of electrical and electronic devices where heavy elements are used, and not to produce products that harm human health during the use of these products and in case of waste. Televisions, radios, lighting tools, bulbs, small hand tools, various toys, entertainment and sports equipment, information technology and telecommunications equipment, printed circuit instruments, vending machines, batteries, batteries, NiCd batteries, switches, sensors, These dangerous substances are used in the production of electrolysis or chrome platings and many other electrical and electronic devices.

Directive 2002-95-EC issued by the Council of Europe imposes certain restrictions on the use of these substances during production. Such electrical and electronic devices overheat when used, and heavy metals listed in the directive interact with this heating and release toxic substances into the air. For this reason, the RoHS directive was intended to control the manufacturing companies.

Today, soldering is the most commonly used joining method in the production of electrical and electronic tools. Based on the limitations introduced by the directive, soldering with tin and silver or with tin and copper will be used. Mercury is mainly used in batteries. In order to comply with the directive, batteries without mercury will be produced. Likewise, contact cleaners are used, for example, to maintain a permanent conductivity in electrical connections, or in the cleaning of cables and connections in cars, or in the cleaning of television, radio and small hand tools. Such cleaners also contain such heavy metals and are harmful to human health.

Application of ROHS in our country

By May, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry issued a Regulation on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment. In practice, the said regulation is briefly referred to as the EEE Regulation.

The purpose of this regulation is to protect nature and human health. To achieve this, the use of certain harmful substances used in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment is limited. The regulation also includes administrative, legal and technical regulations regarding the control of imported electrical and electronic goods. In the meantime, in the regulation, the principles regarding the recovery and disposal of electrical and electronic wastes without harming the nature are also regulated.

The annex to the Regulation contains the categories of electrical and electronic goods (Annex-1A) and a detailed list of these categories (Annex-1B). The categories of electrical and electronic goods and a few products that fall into these categories are:

• Large household appliances (refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, cooking appliances, electric cookers, microwave ovens, electric heaters, electric fans, extractors, air-conditioners)
• Small household appliances (vacuum cleaners, carpet washing machines, weaving and sewing machines, ironing machines, toasters, toasters, grinders, coffee machines, haircuts, hair dryers, toothbrushes, shaving and massage tools, wrist watches, scales)
• Information and telecommunication equipment (mainframes, personal computers, laptops, printers, copying devices, fax devices, mobile and desk calculators, telex, telephones, cordless phones, mobile phones, devices that transmit audio, video and other information)
• Consumer equipment (radio, television, video cameras, audio amplifiers, musical instruments)
• Lighting equipment (fluorescent bulbs, excluding domestic use, flat fluorescent lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, high-power discharge lamps, vehicles used for light-emitting or light control except incandescent filament bulbs)
• Electrical and electronic equipment (except for large and fixed industrial equipment) drills, saws, sewing machines, lathes, mills, sandblasting, sanding, cutting, drilling, tools, riveting, nailing, screwing tools, welding, soldering machines, spray tools, lawn mowers and horticultural tools)
• Toys, entertainment and sports equipment (electric train and race cars, hand-held video game consoles, video games, computers used for sports such as riding, running, rowing, electric or electronic sports equipment, coin-operated machines)
• Medical equipment (radiotherapy equipment, cardiology equipment, dialysis machine, artificial respiration equipment, nuclear medicine equipment, laboratory equipment, analysis equipment, reproductive tests, other devices for the detection, prevention, monitoring and treatment of diseases)
• Monitoring and control instruments (smoke detectors, heat regulators, thermostats, measuring and weighing instruments used at home or in laboratories, control and monitoring tools used in industrial plants)
• Vending machines (hot drink vending machines, hot or cold vending machines for bottles or cans, vending machines for solid products, money vending machines)

In line with the Council of Europe directive, the EEE Regulation sets out the elements that have harmful effects on the environment and human health and their maximum permitted use:

According to the EEE Regulation, manufacturers cannot make production in electrical and electronic devices exceeding these ratios. Very special analysis devices are used during the analyzes. In addition, manufacturers must keep the information and documents that the products offered to the market meet the specified criteria for five years. Similarly, producer companies are obliged to prepare declaration of conformity about their products and submit them to the Ministry of Environment and Forestry by the end of February each year.

Producers are obliged to carry out analyzes in order to prove whether their products contain restricted or prohibited elements as described above. The RoHS Certificate is a document issued based on the results of these analyzes.

our organization TÜRCERT Technical Control and Certification Inc., RoHS certification activities are based on the authorization obtained from national and international accreditation bodies.

RoHS Certificate