The Electronics industry has spent the last few years preparing to comply with the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), 2002/95/EC Directive and its subsequent amendments which restricts the incorporation of six (6) hazardous substances exceeding homogenous material maximum concentration values (MCV) into electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). The six substances and their corresponding MCV’s are as follows:
| Cadmium (Cd) | 0.01% (100 ppm) |
| Hexavalent Chromium (Cr+6) | 0.1% (1000 ppm) |
| Mercury (Hg) | 0.1% (1000 ppm) |
| Lead (Pb) | 0.1% (1000 ppm) |
| PolybrominatedDiphenylethers (PBDE) | 0.1% (1000 ppm) |
| PolybrominatedBiphenyls (PBB) | 0.1% (1000 ppm) |
Although an EU requirement, countries around the world, including Japan, China, Korea, and some US states and Canadian provinces have proposed or adopted similar legislation with many others expected to follow suit.
To support environmental compliance market demand for interconnect products, Amphenol Industrial Operations (AIO) has adopted Industry leading actions to ensure alternative EU RoHS compliant products are offered for applications requiring quality connectors. New product design during the last 3-5 years has embraced product environmental compliance and utilization of high performance EU RoHS compliant materials. For existing products which currently do not meet 2002/95/EC requirements AIO has developed modification codes to which compliant alternatives are built.
RoHS and forthcoming product environmental compliance initiatives will continue to sculpt the landscape of the global electronics industry. Product obsolescence coupled with new materials and technologies will undoubtedly create tumultuous market conditions as customers transition to compliant components and connectors. AIO is ready to help make this transition a seamless endeavor.
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