UL helps OEMs and Manufacturers<br>Self-declare Compliance to RoHS

UL introduces a RoHS Product Certification and a UL Restricted Substances Management System Registration to help organizations self-declare compliance to RoHS. Under its RoHS Product Certification program, UL tests representative samples of a product at the homogeneous level for the six substances restricted by RoHS and that the levels for those substances are in compliance with the limits set by the RoHS Directive. Substances covered under RoHS include lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). If the product meets the RoHS Directive limits, UL authorizes the organization to apply the UL RoHS Product Certification and Product Mark to the manufactured product. Products that qualify for the UL RoHS Product Certification and Product Mark must also meet UL's RoHS Product Certification requirements, including on-site surveillance visits twice per year from a UL representative. UL's Restricted Substances Management System Registration assesses an organization's compliance with the standards established by the International Electrotechnical Commission Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components (IECQ QC 080000 HSPM). These standards require that organizations have implemented processes to identify and control the hazardous substance content in their products. Processes covered include, but not limited to, management responsibility, product design, purchasing, production, and analysis of data. The QC 080000 contains additional requirements to the ISO 9001 standard. Therefore, organizations that have Quality Management Systems that conform to ISO 9001 will realize comparability when they implement conformance to the QC 080000 Standard for Hazardous Substance Process Management (HSPM). Additionally, organizations with Management Systems that conform to other Standards such as ISO 14001 for Environmental Management Systems will also realize benefit as they implement conformance to QC 080000.