Chemical Safety for Electronics

INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

With increasing concern about the adverse effects on our health and environment from hazardous substances, several countries including the United States, China, European Union, and other Asia countries, have enacted legislation and restrictions for a number of hazardous substances. There is also continued pressure from governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and a changing competitive marketplace to reduce the exposure of the user and environment to various chemicals and discharge that present health and environmental hazards. As well as many brands, retailers and manufacturers are facing challenges of managing total cost of quality, supply chain optimization, scalability and transparency as well as up-to-date knowledge of chemical management.
 

OUR APPROACH

Bureau Veritas’ Chemical Management Solution helps brands, retailers and manufacturers identify and address hazardous and restricted substances that may be present in their products or used during manufacturing process. We help define and develop a holistic Chemical Management Program to support you to meet governmental requirements and industry standards for markets in which products will be sold. 

REACH

Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Regulation which has been established to better protect human health and the environment.

Depending on the quantities and the toxicity of chemical substances contained in an end-user product, which has been manufactured in, or imported to the EU, REACH requires product manufacturers as well as distributors, retailers and importers to register these substances with the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).

For REACH registration it is necessary to know

• which chemical substances a product contains and in which quantities
• which substances the product might release and what impact this has
• whether the product contains substances that are for example carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction

Bureau Veritas provides specialized services to help businesses comply with the REACH Regulation, such as

• REACH seminars
• REACH advisory
• Review of product and category lines resulting in a risk analysis and advice how to implement the REACH directive
• REACH testing
  • SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) full test
  • SVHC basic test
  • ECHA candidate test

RoHS Directive

RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) is a directive originated in the European Union. RoHS restricts the usage of hazardous materials like heavy metals, flame retardants etc. in electrical and electronic devices. In January 2013 the original RoHS directive was exchanged with RoHS 2.