EN 50581 - Guiding Standard for Compliance with RoHS2 Technical Documentation Requirements

Nov. 12, 2012 - PRLog -- Including RoHS restrictions in the technical documentation of Electric and Electronic Equipment is one of the challenges arising from the RoHS2 CE marking requirements. In principle manufacturers are free to choose whatever approach (e.g. pure supply chain management, pure chemical testing or a combination of both) is suitable to their needs as long as is satisfies Directive 2011/65/EU Articles 4(1), 13, and 14 for RoHS compliance and CE marking requirements.  It is stated in Directive 2011/65/EU Article 16 (2) that an assessment performed on the basis of a harmonized standard will be presumed to be conforming to the RoHS2 directive.

The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) was given a mandate in October 2011 by the European Commission to develop a standard manufacturers may use for RoHS2 technical documentation. This project resulted in the (to be harmonized) standard EN 50581:2012 “Technical documentation for the evaluation of electrical and electronic products with respect to restriction of hazardous substances”.

Standard EN 50581

The aim of the standard is to specify the technical documentation a manufacturer will have to collect for applicable substance restrictions in order to demonstrate compliance with the directive. The standard’s key elements of the technical documentation are

A general description of the product
Documents for materials, parts, and/or sub-assemblies
Information connecting the technical documents and respective materials, parts and/or sub-assemblies
A list of harmonized standards and/or technical specifications used to prepare the technical documents

The most important and critical part is obviously the documentation of materials, parts, and/or sub-assemblies with relevance to restricted substance information. The standard gives guidance on

What tasks a manufacturer needs to engage in
How to decide on relevant information
What relevant information to gather
How to evaluate the information
What review processes to follow

Additionally the document shows a process scheme a manufacturer shall follow for the technical documentation as well as the relationship between Directive 2011/65/EU Article 7(b), standard EN 50581, and the technical documentation.

About SGS Electrical & Electronics Services

As the world’s leader in third party testing, SGS has established procedures to cover a large variety of legal requirements, such as RoHS (http://www.sgs.com/en/Consumer-Goods-Retail/Electrical-and-Electronics/Audio-Video-and-Household-Appliances/RoHS.aspx), related to your products. The global footprint of SGS will provide solutions wherever you are. The SGS experts may support you in product compliance with consumer product related requirements. Regardless if you are in need of chemical testing or services in the fields of inspection, certification, compliance assurance, outsourcing, training or auditing, SGS is dedicated to satisfy your needs. Providing service to help your products to be fit for the market requirements of the future – whatever the legal frameworks might be.

Resources:

[1] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:218:0082:0128:en:PDF

[2] http://www.cenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=104:110:2895162680975399::::FSP_PROJECT,FSP_LANG_ID:23432,25

Should you require more information on RoHS2 and the EN 50581 standard, please contact the SGS experts.

Contact details:

SGS Consumer Testing Services

Dr. Udo Krischke

RSTS Global Technical Manager

Im Maisel 14, 65232 Taunusstein, Germany

t: +49 (0)6128 - 744 235

Email: cts.media@sgs.com

Website: http://www.sgs.com/pages/consumer-testing/sgs-consumer-goods-and-retail.aspx

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