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activities of industry leaders may prove a valuable cor-porate strategy. Here are 10 steps toward developingand implementing a strategy for compliance.

1. Determine the company’s legal exposure. This is thefirst step. Senior management must support this initialexposure assessment and someone within the companymust take responsibility for directing the effort. Thisperson should initiate internal dialogue to determinewhether the company is subject to the directive orwhether its products are covered by an exemption. Anin-house attorney or outside legal counsel should makea quick assessment of whether – and to what extent –the company must comply with requirements.

2. Form a corporate-wide compliance team. The nextstep is to assign ownership of the task to a corporate-wide compliance team. The RoHS Directive’s require-ments are complex and their impacts are far-reaching,affecting product design, manufacture, distribution,procurement and sale. Virtually all corporate depart-ments must be aware of the directive and its potentialimpacts. Various departments should be involved in thecompliance team and they should meet regularly toassess the impact on current and future operations.

A recent Strategic Counsel LLC survey of electronicsmanufacturers identified engineering, procurement,legal and marketing as key corporate departmentsinvolved in RoHS compliance. Other departmentsmentioned were quality assurance, logistics/manufac-turing, environmental health and safety, operations andnew product development. In a separate question, 41%of respondents indicated that they had two to five full-time employees working on compliance, 37% reportedhaving zero or one employee (Figure 1).

3. Develop a corporate RoHS Directive compliance state-ment. The team’s first task: develop a corporate compli-ance statement articulating the company’s commitmentto, and goals for achieving, timely RoHS compliance.The statement can be a simple one-page document stat-ing that the company intends to “comply with all regu-lations worldwide,” or a more detailed, substance-by-substance discussion of its compliance status. It should

68 Circuits Assembly FEBRUARY 2005 circuitsassembly.com

Holly Evans is

president of Strategic

Counsel LLC, a

Washington, DC-

based consulting

firm that represents

electronics compa-

nies on environmen-

tal policy matters,

and former director

of environmental

policy for the EIA;

h.evans@cox.net.

Joe Johnson is envi-

ronmental regulato-

ry manager for the

Microsoft Home &

Entertainment Divi-

sion, responsible for

regulatory compli-

ance of Xbox and

PC hardware prod-

ucts; joejohn@

microsoft.com.

T he EU’s RoHS Directive imposes unprecedentedregulatory restrictions on substances used inelectronics. The targeted substances are cadmi-

um, mercury, lead and hexavalent chromium, alongwith polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybromi-nated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.

Manufacturers must adhere tosignificant, and potentially costly,compliance requirements in orderto meet the RoHS deadline of July1, 2006. What is not provided,however, are clear requirements forimplementation, specifically what

actions will constitute“compliance.”Concerns, then,cen-ter on the actions necessary to prove RoHS compliance toregulatory bodies – and customers.

To determine certain implementation details, theEuropean Commission formed the Technical Adapta-tion Committee, comprised of representatives from EUmember states. TAC’s role: establishing a process forensuring that the RoHS substance ban provisions aremet. One area this group will address is a method forRoHS compliance and enforcement. Options being dis-cussed include producer self-declaration, supply-chaindeclarations and market surveillance/testing.

The U.K. has proposed a “due diligence” approach,which will likely be copied by other EU members.Rather than expecting manufacturers to prove thatevery part they buy is free of RoHS-defined substances,members will likely expect manufacturers to establishdocumented and auditable systems to prevent noncom-pliant products from entering the EU market. Assum-ing this approach will be taken, development, imple-mentation and proof of a corporate RoHS compliancestrategy is essential.

Many RoHS implementation issues remain to be set-tled. The TAC has not given clear direction, but dead-lines are nearing and industry must move ahead. In theabsence of well-defined statutory or regulatory guid-ance, implementation of a best management practiceapproach that incorporates the common compliance

LEAD-FREE WATCHCountdown to July 1, 2006

17 months

Countdownto Pb-Free Holly Evans and Joe Johnson

10 Steps Toward RoHSDirective ComplianceManufacturers will likely need documented, auditable systems to pre-

vent noncompliant products from entering the EU.

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circuitsassembly.com Circuits Assembly FEBRUARY 2005 69

include a date (or dates) for compliance and might alsooutline supplier requirements, such as methods for ver-ification of compliance (i.e., testing, documentation).The objective is to have a formal document to respondto customer inquiries about RoHS compliance. Withoutthis document, customers may perceive the company asan ineligible supplier, which could lead to lost sales.

4. Develop an internal RoHS compliance “roadmap.” Aninternal document will help guide plans for compliance.This roadmap should define concrete actions the compa-ny will take with an implementation schedule. It shouldidentify which products will be offered as lead-free withtimelines and deadlines for sample availability and pro-duction availability. It might also set deadlines for the dis-continuation of “leaded”products; identify plans for partrenumbering (e.g., separate part numbers for leaded vs.lead-free products); and discuss substitute materials(e.g., preferred alloys to replace tin-lead solder). Theroadmap is a living document that will adapt and changeas the company’s RoHS preparedness evolves.

5. Assess the company’s supply-chain exposure. Thecompany needs to look very closely at components andparts that it purchases to determine where RoHS-restricted substances may exist within its covered prod-

uct lines. There are the obvious places, such as lead insolders and surface finishes, but there are also lessapparent high-risk components, such as lead and cad-mium in cables and banned flame retardants in plas-tics, housings, cables, connectors, fans and compo-nents. A company’s restricted substance specification,updated to include the RoHS substance MCVs (maxi-mum concentration values), is an appropriate compli-ance metric for suppliers.

Product-specific assessments are necessary to identi-fy 1) components at greatest risk for compliance and 2)key suppliers of those components. A risk-based supplychain compliance program should combine documen-tation of components’ RoHS compliance status withlimited testing requirements.

6. Qualify suppliers. Companies should qualify sup-pliers to determine their level of RoHS preparedness. Aquestionnaire may help begin this process. Questionsmay include: Are you aware of/familiar with the RoHSDirective? Does your company have a person responsi-ble for environmental compliance? Is your companyISO 14001 certified? This information, combined withthe product risk assessment described above, will helpcompanies identify suppliers that will require thegreatest attention because they provide high-risk com-ponents and require more education and supervisionto ensure that they can deliver RoHS-compliant com-ponents. It may be useful to develop a compliancechecklist for high-risk components to both informprocurement personnel and provide documentationthat RoHS requirements were addressed in procure-ment decisions.

7. Establish a supply-chain material declaration process.Although RoHS requires manufacturers to know whatsubstances are prohibited in their products, it’s alsoimportant to know what substances and materials areused in their products. A material declaration question-naire is typically used to obtain this information. Agood starting point is the Joint Industry Guide forMaterial Composition Declaration, developed by EIA,EICTA and JGPSSI (eia.org/resources/2003-09-19.10.pdf). This guide sets an industry standard for mate-rials and substances that, when present in products andsubparts above certain thresholds, must be disclosed(i.e., “declared”).

Companies must establish a database for informa-tion received from suppliers so they can use it todetermine compliance. This database may be as sim-ple as a corporate spreadsheet; however, software ven-dors, seeing the market potential generated by theRoHS Directive, are busy developing proprietary solu-tions to help companies manage and use supply-chaindisclosure data.

8. Perform limited testing and validate results. Although

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Responses 30 33 3 4 10

0-1 FT Staff

2-5 FTStaff

6-10 FT Staff

11-15 FT Staff

Other

Other responses: “more than 100,” “all are part time,” “don’t know,” “impossible to estimate”

FIGURE 1: Number of full-time employees assigned to RoHScompliance (source: Strategic Counsel LLC).

Other responses: “not budgeted,” “don’t know,” “estimate impossible, “$100 million” and “$6 million in capital alone”

0

10

20

30

40

Responses

<$50k$50k-$100k

$100k-$200k

$200k-$300k

>$300k Other

38 10 1057 9

FIGURE 2: RoHS compliance budgets (source: StrategicCounsel LLC).

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70 Circuits Assembly FEBRUARY 2005 circuitsassembly.com

educating suppliers and procurement managers is thefirst line of defense in a compliance strategy, a testingplan should also be developed based on the presence ofhigh-risk components. It may not be necessary to testevery component, but companies must have a legiti-mate risk-based testing process using approved meth-ods. Table 1 lists RoHS substance MCVs and severalcommonly used test methods.

Due to the inherent difficulties in digestion andanalysis of product materials using wet chemical meth-ods, x-ray fluorescence is receiving attention as an ana-lytical technique for RoHS compliance analysis. XRF isnondestructive, gives real-time analysis information,and can be used to analyze a wide variety of productmaterials. Because XRF can detect only elemental sub-stances, in most cases it must be used in conjunctionwith other analytical methods to achieve a full compli-ance determination. Portable XRF equipment is easy touse and, although limited by uncertainties in numericalresults and low sensitivity for cadmium, can be anexcellent screening tool for detecting elemental RoHSsubstances in a range of product materials.

The evolution of RoHS substance limits for productshas created the need for a reference standard to objec-tively define analytical testing procedures for use incompliance determinations. An IEC (InternationalElectrotechnical Commission) ad-hoc committee hasbeen formed to address this need, and an IEC RoHStesting standard is expected to be issued prior to theJuly 2006 compliance date.

The final steps are to document, incorporate and peri-odically evaluate the quality of information received.Testing and compliance documentation should beauditable to ensure credibility and effectiveness.

9. Exchange RoHS compliance data with customers.Once companies compile material content data, theyneed to be able to manage and exchange them with cus-tomers. A standard approach to materials compositiondeclarations, including data collection and exchange,

could reduce the cost and complexity of compliance andmake a more efficient and effective process for the over-all supply chain. The International Electronics Manufac-turing Initiative’s (iNEMI’s) Material Composition DataExchange team is working with international standardsbodies to help define and validate standards for theexchange of material composition data between all ele-ments of the supply chain and across the entire productlifecycle in order to support requirements of RoHS. Foradditional information, visit inemi.org/projects/fis/Material_composition.html.

10. Incorporate RoHS Directive compliance strategy intocompany-wide operations. A RoHS compliance strategy iscomplex and requires commitments from severaldepartments. Once in place it must be implementedcompany-wide. Engineers must update design specifi-cations, procurement officers must understand whichsuppliers are “high-risk” and the corporate team mustbe aware of changing requirements and legal determi-nations (such as new restrictions or changes in concen-tration levels or exemptions). Specifications mustreflect the appropriate RoHS substance limits and becited in manufacturing and procurement contracts.Procurement needs to monitor the supply chain closelyand communicate to suppliers the importance of com-pliance. Inventory managers must be aware of deadlines(noncompliant products must satisfy the RoHS “placedon the market” condition in the EU prior to July 1,2006). The sales team must be aware of the company’sprogram so that they can respond to customer requests.

Although the TAC continues to meet on a regularbasis, the industry does not expect clear guidance in thenear term as to what actions will be accepted as proof ofRoHS compliance. In the absence of guidance, the indus-try must take immediate steps to adopt corporate andindustry-wide best management practices to demon-strate RoHS compliance. Companies must put strategiesin place now in order to meet the impending RoHS dead-lines. The actions outlined in this article are consistent

with what’s being done by others and are solidsteps toward accomplishing a compliance strat-egy based on due diligence. ■

Bibliography

1. P. Goodman, C. Robertson, R Skipper and J. Allen, “PossibleCompliance Approaches for Directive 2002/95/EC (The RoHSDirective),” April 2004 (dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/ROHS_Compliance_Full_Report.pdf).

2. Holly Evans, “RoHS Compliance Survey,” NEMI RoHS/Lead-Free Summit, Oct. 19, 2004 (ftp://nemi.org/webdownload/newsroom/Presentations/20.pdf).

3. Joe Johnson, “Elimination of RoHS Substances in ElectronicProducts,” NEMI RoHS/Lead-Free Summit, Oct. 19, 2004 (ftp://nemi.org/webdownload/newsroom/Presentations/11.pdf).

Countdownto Pb-Free

RoHS Substance Likely RoHS MCV Limits Typical Testing Approaches

Lead 1000 ppm* • Wet chemical digestion followed by ICP(Inductively coupled plasma) or AAS (atomicabsorption) spectroscopy• XRF (X-ray fluorescence) spectroscopy

Cadmium 100 ppm • Wet chemical digestion followed by ICP or AAS• XRF

Hexavalent Chromium 1000 ppm • Wet chemical digestion followed by UV-VIS(ultraviolet and visible absorption) spectroscopy• XRF (for elemental Cr only)

Mercury 1000 ppm • Wet chemical digestion followed by AAS• XRF

PBB/PBDE 1000 ppm • Solvent extraction followed by GC/MS (gaschromatography/mass spectroscopy)• XRF (for elemental Br only)

*Note: A California Prop 65 ruling limits lead to 300 ppm in external cables to avoid product warning labels.

TABLE 1: RoHS substances, MCV limits and typical testing approaches.