UL Supports European Union RoHS Compliance
May 16, 2006
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Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) announced two new services designed for organizations seeking to demonstrate compliance with the European Union (EU)
Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, effective July 1, 2006.
UL unveiled a UL restricted substance product certification and a UL restricted substance management systems registration designed to help organizations self-declare RoHS compliance.
UL RoHS Product Certification and Product Mark
Under its RoHS product certification program, UL tests representative samples of a product at the homogeneous level for the six substances restricted by RoHS and that the levels for those substances are in compliance with RoHS limits.
RoHS covered substances include lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). If the product meets the RoHS Directive limits, UL will authorize the organization to apply the UL RoHS mark to the manufactured product. Products that qualify for the UL RoHS product mark also must meet UL's RoHS product certification requirements, including biannual on-site surveillance visits from a UL representative.
UL Restricted Substances Management System Registration
UL's restricted substances management system registration assesses an organization's compliance with the standards established by the International Electrotechnical Commission Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components (IECQ QC 080000 Hazardous Substances Process Management, or HSPM).
These standards require organizations have processes in place to identify and control the hazardous substance content in their products. Processes covered include, but are not limited to, management responsibility, product design, purchasing, production and analysis of data. The QC 080000 contains additional requirements to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001 standard.
Therefore, organizations that have quality management systems that conform to ISO 9001 will realize comparability when they implement conformance to the QC 080000 HSPM, according to UL. Organizations with management systems that conform to other standards such as ISO 14001 for Environmental Management Systems also will benefit as they implement conformance to QC 080000.
Source: Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL).