RoHS stands for Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment.

In conformity with the European directive 2002/95/CE (RoHS Directive) and 2011/65/EU (RoHS2 Directive) on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, the maximum concentration values accepted for these substances have been established by a decision of the European Community on 18 August 2005 (published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L 214 of the 19 August 2005 - 2005/618/EC).

As a reminder, the European ROHS directive concerns the following products:

• Small household appliances (deep fryer, toothbrush, vacuum cleaner, ...)
• Large household appliances (washing machine, microwave oven, fridge, ...)
• IT and telecommunication equipments (computers, mobile phones, ...)
• Current equipments (televisions, video recorders, ...)
• Lighting equipment
• Electrical or electronic tools (lawnmowers, screw gun...)
• Electrical toys, sports and leisure equipments
• etc...

According to the standards of the European RoHs directive and the European Commission decision, the companies that manufacture, sell, distribute, import or export electrical and electronic equipment in the E.U. must ensure that the following hazardous substances do not exceed the maximum concentration value in homogenous materials:

Hazardous substances	maximum
Cadium(Cd)	100 mg/kg	0,01%
Plomb (Pb)	1000 mg/kg	0,1%
Mercure (Hg)	1000 mg/kg	0,1%
Chrome hexavalent (Cr (VI))	1000 mg/kg	0,1%
Polybromobiphényles (PBB)	1000 mg/kg	0,1%
Polybromodiphényléthers (PBDE)	1000 mg/kg	0,1%

A homogeneous material is a component or material that cannot be mechanically disjointed into different materials. e.g.: plastic, glass, metal, resin.