RoHS Assurance Tests To Support Materials Declarations

This new service will be officially launched on 1st July to coincide with the enforcement date of the RoHS Directive within the EU States. The final report from this service will become an extra assurance that materials declarations from the supply chain are trustworthy. The RoHS Assurance test program is a premium service that will select and test those parts of a finished product or assembly, which are deemed at highest risk of containing restricted materials. Material declarations from suppliers may not be enough to ensure that all parts comply with the RoHS Directive. In cases of concern detailed sampling and testing may or could be required. Examples of issues to be addressed include: is the supplier part of a global chain or a small previously unknown company? Is there a long-term working relationship with the supplier? Has their production facility ever been audited? On occasions material declarations may not be available. There may also be a requirement to demonstrate periodic random compliance monitoring. This is when the Soldertec RoHS Assurance testing program is the perfect answer. "Whether your assemblies are manufactured in Europe or the finished product is brought in from the other side of the world, it has become clear that materials declarations alone will not always be sufficient to ensure continuing compliance," comments Tom Perrett, Marketing Manager at Soldertec Global. "As an independent and professional laboratory we can assist the industry through our deep understanding of the directive and the implications that it has upon business. With RoHS Assurance we have adopted a risk-based approach by carefully selecting parts for testing that have the highest probability of containing RoHS restricted materials. Initially we will test and report on 10 points, which we consider to be of highest risk. We believe this to be a unique service that will provide considerable benefit to the electronics industry struggling to comply with the RoHS Directive."