On July 1, 2006, the European Union (EU) Member States had to ensure that new electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) placed on the market did not contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) as per the original RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive (2002/95/EC). Under this directive, exemptions were allowed to be used with some specific conditions.

On June 8, 2011, the EU released the recast of the RoHS directive (2011/65/EU, RoHS 2). Under this revision, the RoHS directive is considered a CE Marking directive. Additionally, some exemptions were discontinued and considered expired as of January 2, 2013.

On January 2, 2013, the EU Member States had to adopt and publish the laws and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the RoHS 2 directive.

On March 31, 2015 the EU released the the directive (2015/863/EU, RoHS 3) amending Directive 2011/65/ EU as regards the list of substances subject to restritions.

As a result, Kontron has taken the appropriate measures to meet the requirements of the RoHS 3 directive and to maintain the availability of RoHS compliant product to its customers where applicable.
 

USE OF ROHS 3 EXEMPTIONS IN KONTRON PRODUCTS

As of today, all active exemptions used by Kontron in its RoHS compliant products are under review by the European Commission (EC) for renewal. It is possible that some of these exemptions might expire, be re-scoped, or re-convened.

Kontron has taken the expiration of active RoHS 3 exemptions very seriously. Therefore, Kontron is concentrating its efforts to ensure that all our RoHS products remain compliant before any of the legal expiration dates. The current expiration of RoHS  exemptions impacts only products falling into categories 1 to 7, 10  and 11 of Annex I of the RoHS 2 directive. Products that are excluded from the scope of RoHS 3 via article 2(4) are also not impacted by the expiration of exemptions. Please consult the official RoHS 2 directive for more details:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_eee/legis_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_eee/pdf/faq.pdf

If your end user application falls into one of the RoHS 3 directive exemptions, or has later exemption expiration dates, you should contact Kontron’s sales team for further contractual agreement discussions to authorize the delivery of products with RoHS 3 exemptions beyond the expiration date.

KONTRON ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE

Kontron is committed to providing its customers the most current information related to the elimination of hazardous materials from the components it uses. Kontron's broad supply base, covering the spectrum of electronic and mechanical components, assemblies and processes, gives Kontron the ability to spot trends early and at the same time identify the unique solutions each component manufacturer adopts. Beyond providing information, Kontron Management is committed to action. Therefore various activities were initiated in order to ensure RoHS compliance. 

MARKING OF ROHS 3 PRODUCTS

For products that need to be CE marked under the RoHS 3 directive, the CE Marking Regulation 765/2008/EC will be followed. As per the CE Marking Regulation:

“The CE marking shall be the only marking which attests the conformity of the product with the applicable requirements of the relevant Community harmonisation legislation providing for its affixing.”

“The affixing to a product of markings, signs or inscriptions which are likely to mislead third parties regarding the meaning or form of the CE marking shall be prohibited. Any other marking may be affixed to the product provided that the visibility, legibility and meaning of the CE marking is not thereby impaired.”

Kontron will ensure that applicable products are marked as per the CE Marking Regulation.