The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in

electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union.

The RoHS 1 directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and became a law in each member state. This directive restricts (with excep

tions) the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. It is closely linked with the Waste Electri

cal and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC which sets collection, recycling and recovery targets for electrical goods and is part of a legislat

ive initiative to solve the problem of huge amounts of toxic electronic waste.

Products within scope of the RoHS2 directive must display the CE mark, the manufacturers name and address and a serial or batch number. Parties needing

to know more detailed compliance information can find this on the EU Declaration of Conformity for the product as created by the manufacturer (Brand ow

ner) responsible for the design or the EU representative. The regulation also requires most actors in the supply chain for the product (importer and distribut

ors) to keep and check this document, as well as ensuring a conformance process has been followed and the correct language translation for instructions ar

e provided. The manufacturer must keep certain documentation to demonstrate conformity, known as a technical file or technical records. The directive req

uires the manufacturer to demonstrate conformity by the use of test data for all materials or by following a harmonised standard (EN50581:2012 is the only

standard at the time of writing). Regulators may request this file or, more likely, specific data from it as it will likely be very large