The European Union passed the "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, RoHS" in February 2003, which is the abbreviation of "Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment."
The RoHS directive came into effect on July 1, 2006, and every member country must implement the directive and become law. The directive (with exceptions) restricts the use of six hazardous substances in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. It is closely related to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) 2002/96/EC, which stipulates the collection, recycling and recycling goals of electronic products, and is part of a legislative initiative to solve the problem of a large number of toxic electronic waste. In the speech, RoHS refers to EU standards, unless other standards.
Each European Union member state will adopt its own enforcement and implementation policies using the directive as a guide.
RoHS is often referred to (inaccurately) as the 'lead-free directive', but it restricts the use of the following six substances:
Lead (Pb)
Mercury (Hg)
Cadmium (Cd)
Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+)
Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB)
Polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE)