RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) is the European directive that restricts the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (lead, mercury, cadmium, certain flame retardants…). It is the reason lead-free solder became standard in electronics.
In the project
RoHS is met directly at the bench: the solder used in lab sessions is lead-free for this very reason. At project level, the directive is above all a constraint on component choice, favouring compliant part numbers, and a line to record on the eco-design and safety and quality side, with no aim of certification.
Restricted-substance lists, thresholds and exemptions belong to the standards course and to the ESE discipline. This wiki limits itself to placing RoHS within the technical choices of the project.
See also
- REACH and WEEE — the neighbouring environmental regulations
- Soldering — lead-free solder follows from RoHS
- Eco-design — where the constraint steers the choices
- Characterising a requirement — a regulatory constraint is written as a requirement (binary target, often F0)
- Standards course (colleagues) — substances, thresholds, exemptions