China’s RoHS Marking and Limits Standards Ready for Approval

SMT Magazine reports that two important standards under China’s Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive have now been completed and are awaiting approval by the China Ministry of Information Industry.

According to the report, the newly completed standards deal with “concentration limits” of hazardous substances, and marking required to indicate hazardous substance content, and will not impose any additional work on manufactures whose products comply with the European Union’s (EU’s) RoHS Directive.  However, the China standard on concentration limits divides components into three separate categories, which may make assessing compliance more challenging for manufacturers.

The Ministry is not expected to make any substantive changes to either of these standards as part of its review and approval.  However, still to come from the Ministry is a Catalogue of products which will be subject to hazardous substance restrictions and mandatory certification, as well as a standard on “testing procedures.”   

The provisions of China’s RoHS Directive enter into force on March 1, 2007.