Oman RoHS Compliance

Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry notified the World Trade Organization on July 13th, 2021, of the adoption of a decree of the implementation of Restrictions of hazardous substances (RoHS) in certain electrical and electronic products.
The Oman RoHS decree follows the EU RoHS directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS recast, also called RoHS 2) with its 2015/863 and 2017/2012 amendments.

Oman RoHS Rules

In essence, the Oman RoHS rules are the equivalent as the EU RoHS one, covering the same ten restricted substances, i.e. :

four heavy metals and their compounds,
two brominated families,
four phthalates.

The maximum concentration is also identical, at 0.1 % weight to weight at the homogeneous material level. It applies to all restricted chemicals barring cadmium, at 0.01 %.

It means that none of the materials used in the finished products should contain any of the restricted substances above the limits. There is no de minimis, or tolerance, even for small materials within components. Only some applications may benefit from exemptions which are subject to changes.

Product Categories under the Omani RoHS Scope

The current scope of affected products is not as broad as the EU RoHS one. Indeed, it only includes:

Information Technology (IT) equipment, which is the EU RoHS category 3. IT equipment covers personal computers, printers, phones, etc.
Medical devices (EU RoHS category 8), such as pulmonary ventilators, analyzers, or dialysis equipment.

Nevertheless, Omani legislators will likely add more categories to the list of covered products in the coming years. Additional products that may fall into Oman’s RoHS scope are, for example:

electrical tools,
toys,
sports equipment,
monitoring and control instruments, or
automatic dispensers.

What Manufacturers and Importers should do to Comply

The date for the adoption of Oman RoHS is in December 2021. After six months of transition for the industry to get ready, as of June 2022, manufacturers or importers of in-scope products would have to comply.

Like in the European Union, the following requirements would apply:

Limit the use of restricted substances below the permitted thresholds, unless there is a valid exemption for a specific application;
Monitor the claimed RoHS exemptions since they are likely to expire;
Build a solid technical file to demonstrate due diligence. IEC 63000 is a valid method to perform risk assessments. It consists in working with your supply chain and compiling RoHS information in your product’s bill of material.
Draft certificates of compliance (CoC).
Keep records of your technical file.

Why Oman RoHS Matters

With about five million inhabitants, the Sultanate of Oman is an influential market in the region with a high per-capita gross domestic product. Therefore Oman RoHS is an essential compliance aspect to consider.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have also set RoHS-like regulations. The neighboring countries of Turkey and India also have RoHS-like obligations. WEEE (waste of electrical and electronic equipment) regulations may also apply, like India WEEE.

At Enviropass, we can help you comply with RoHS regulations worldwide, including in Oman. Consult an Enviropass expert, with a 1st hour for free!