EU RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances)

What it is: An EU directive that restricts the use of ten specific hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Adopted in the early 2000s and since expanded, the restricted substances currently include lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and four phthalates.

Why you're receiving this request: If you supply any component or material that ends up in an electrical or electronic product sold in the EU, your customer needs a RoHS declaration from you. This is one of the most frequently requested compliance documents in manufacturing supply chains. RoHS applies to manufacturers, importers, and distributors placing EEE on the EU market, and they cannot issue their own Declaration of Conformity without supplier-level declarations backing it up. RoHS-equivalent regulations also exist in the UK, China, India, and several U.S. states. If your products contain any exempted uses, those exemptions have their own expiration schedules and may have lapsed.

Official resource: European Commission RoHS Directive