Comparison between REACH and RoHS Compliance

Market

The European Union (EU), and other markets (the UK, Turkey, China, etc.)

Same (mainly the EU on articles and other jursidictions on chemicals)

Scope

Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) parts manufactured, distributed, and imported within the EU.

All parts and products manufactured, sold, and imported within the EU.

Who Enforces the Regulation?

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

Type

Restrictive Directive

Both declarative and restrictive Regulation

Controlled Substances

• Lead (Pb) and lead compounds
• Cadmium (Cd) and cadmium compounds
• Mercury (Hg) and mercury compounds
• Hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+) and hexavalent chromium compounds
• Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)
• Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP)
• Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP)
• Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)
• Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)

Declarable chemicals found in the Candidate List of substances of very high concern list (SVHC List). It is updated every six months

Restrictions found in Annex XVII

Threshold

At the Homogenous Material Level:

• < 0.01% or 100 ppm for cadmium
• < 0.1% or 1000 ppm for remaining substances

0.1% of any of the SVHCs at the Article Level (component)

Penalties

EU Member States set the rules on penalties. There may be an inspection at the borders or by surveillance agencies. These can include:

• Withdrawal of the product from the EU market.
• May have to issue a recall notice.
• Administrative penalties.
• Criminal penalties.
• Some member states may also choose not to enforce a penalty.

Same. All EU Member States indicate a penalty for an infringement. Penalties depend on the country. 

Notes

RoHS does permit certain exemptions under specific applications when disclosed. 

The SCIP database, an open-source database, is used to declare any SVHC above the threshold.