How are REACH and RoHS different?

The chemical, as well as electrical and electronic products have a lot of guidelines set against them for the easy manufacture and selling of the same. With new standards and regulations evolving every day, it becomes tough to keep up with the updated safety requirements. With more businesses using a lot of chemicals in their daily operations, there’s a need to be given a specific set of compliance guidelines that they can follow without hassles. Hence the RoHS, as well as the REACH guidelines, have been collated.

What is RoHS?

The Restriction of Hazardous Substances restricts the use of hazardous materials in electronic as well as electrical products. The RoHS has a list of products that cannot be used in the manufacturing of EEE goods. These guidelines are applicable right from the product assembly and not solely in the finished goods.

What are the restricted substances?

The list of the restricted materials contains lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE, DEHP, BBP, and DIBP.

Why is it important?

This compliance has become mandatory today for selling goods in the EU. The banned substances are hazardous to the environment and cannot be used in manufacturing. These substances also pose an occupational hazard and hence following the guidelines is very important to safeguard everybody around the manufacturing unit.

What is REACH?

REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and the Restriction of Chemicals. This is an EU regulation that is exemplarily designed to protect and safeguard both the environment as well as the human health from the harm that chemical discharges pose at. The ECHA or the European Chemicals Agency looks into this.

What substances are restricted under this?

The REACH guidelines are applied to every chemical substance and not only to those getting used in industries or manufacturing. These also include the chemicals used in household utilities as well as paints, clothes, and cleaning products.

How are RoHS and REACH different?

Both of the regulations are designed to protect the workers, consumers as well as the environment from the harmfulness of the chemicals. REACH is regulated by ECHA while EU and individual states regulate the RoHS. The RoHS has a list of 10 banned substances while the REACH is applied to every chemical substance. Though the responsibility of both is similar, REACH is applied in a much broader sense.

The Enviropass ROHS checks always ensure that the products are abiding by the guidelines and are not using any questionable compounds.