The Chinese Polution Act has been released on February 28, 2006. Similar to the European RoHS guidelines, it regulates the use of certain hazardous substances such as lead, cadmium, chromium VI, mercury or PBB/PBDE polybrominated flame inhibitors. The regulation is mainly valid for manufacturers, importers and dealers of products circulated within China. The regulation starts in two steps beginning March 1, 2007. The first step includes the unique declaration of the products. The second step defines the limitation of the substances and control thereof.

The requirements of the CHINA-RoHS differ from the EU-RoHS in the following subjects:

1. China- RoHS does not allow any exception for products in the so-called „Electronic Information Products“ (EIP) group.

2. Products for the end customers are required to be labeled. Suppliers do not to provide the mentioned marking but shall supply to the purchaser all necessary information required.

3. The limitations of the restricted substances are not yet defined. They will be similar to the limits of the EU-RoHS but the CHINA-RoHS does not allow any exceptions as indicated in the EU-RoHS guidelines.

4. The outermost packaging materials must be marked with the respective recycling logos according to GB-18450-2001.

5. All information according to CHINA-RoHS has to be available in Chinese.

6. The CHINA-RoHS conformity has to be confirmed by a Chinese laboratory, while the EU-RoHS conformity can be assured with self declaration.

EIP products have to be marked with pollution control logos in accordance with the standard SJ/T11364-2006 since 1st March 2007. The declaration is different for products with relevant substances below the accepted threshold and the ones above it. If a product does not contain any toxic or hazardous substances it will be marked with the green logo (Picture 1). Logo 2 (Picture 2) is normally in orange and indicates that the material contains certain toxic or hazardous substances and can be used safely during its environmental protection use period (EFUP). This duration is given with the figure in the logo and is indicated in years (e.g. 50 = 50 years EFUP). Components that are intended to be used directly by an end customer need to be labeled, while component suppliers do not need to provide the mentioned marking but they shall supply all necessary information required to the purchaser.

Picture 1: CHINA-RoHS conformed (free of toxic or hazardous substances)

Picture 2: not CHINA-RoHS conformed (contain toxic or hazardous substances)

The prescriptive limits for the substances similar to the thresholds within the EU-RoHS will apply. The values of each substance have to be indicated within a list. CHINA RoHS requires the indication of the exact designation of the material contents.

SCHURTER indexes all CHINA-RoHS conform products on the website with the mentioned logo (Picture 1) to company materials information. The symbol links to this information page for detailed status information and product overview lists. Detailed information is provided for by Product Content Sheets . Packaging material of storage units is marked with the required recycling symbols.

In Step 2 SCHURTER will assure the availability of the so called. „Key Product Catalogue“ with the information about the mentioned hazardous substances for each product. This information will be guided with the independent product analysis that needs to be realized by an accredited Chinese laboratory.

SCHURTER does not offer products to the market that are intended to be used directly by the end customer. This means that the products itself are not marked nor does the packaging need to carry the pollution control logos. All required Information is assured by indicating the products within the catalogue on the web and making product lists available for download from the website.

SCHURTER provides the necessary information within the RoHS product lists on the website. Therein the actual status of conformity will be listed for the several product lines (Type) resp. the part numbers. The list contains beside the CHINA-RoHS information also the information about the EU-RoHS conformity. The lists are same in structure for the several product groups of the SCHURTER range and will be updated frequently by the product managers. Following is a sample of the product group fuses.

Fuses 99.1KB (PDF) 08. Januar 2008

Connectors 82.3KB (PDF) 28. Februar 2008

Circuit Breaker for Equipment (CBE) 20.3KB (PDF) 09. Februar 2007

Metal Line Components 26.7KB (PDF) 08. März 2007

Switch Line 22.8KB (PDF) 08. März 2007

EMC Products 79.8KB (PDF) 27. September 2007

Data Signal Connectors 72.6KB (PDF) 27. April 2007

Voltage Selector, Switches 72.5KB (PDF) 27. April 2007

Indicator 22.1KB (PDF) 08. März 2007

Test Jacks 21.5KB (PDF) 08. März 2007

More and more often customers want to know what materials a component is comprised of. SCHURTER has therefore adopted the Umbrella Specifications Initiative of the German Electrical & Electronic Manufacturers' Association (ZVEI – Zentralverband der deutschen Elektronikindustrie) and is making available the new Product Content Sheets.

A Product Content Sheet is being established for each product type, giving details of the materials contained in the component. It confirms that the product complies with all of the EU's current material prohibitions. To achieve this SCHURTER makes use of the official EICTA materials regulations list, which defines the legal regulations as they relate to the electronics industry.

In addition, the Product Content Sheets declare whether a component is already CHINA-RoHS resp. RoHS 2002/95/EC-compliant.

Example of a Product Content Sheet MST 250

These Product Content Sheets are available for download on our website.

The packaging material is also subject of declaration requirement. The indication is according to the requirements of GB-18450-200 resp. DIN.

The ECFIC Environmental Group defined on its meeting on November 13. 2006 that only the external packaging material (including primary and secondary packaging) of EIP products is required to be labelled. The fixing material, internal packaging material and filling material are not required to be labeled. The label should be placed on the external surface.

SCHURTER-RoHS Site: http://www.SCHURTER.ch/company/rohs.asp

Design Chain Associates China RoHS Services http://www.chinarohs.com/

Zentralverband Elektrotechnik- und Elektronikindustrie e. V.

http://www.zvei.org/index.php?id=3388

Recycling-Logo: National Standard of the People’s Republic of China GB 18455-2001 http://www.aeanet.org/governmentaffairs/gajl_Packaging_GB18455_2001ENG.asp

Limits for Certain Hazardous: National Standard of the People’s Republic of China SJ/T11364—2006

http://www.aeanet.org/governmentaffairs/gajl_MCV_SJT11363_2006ENG.asp

Declaration Guidelines for CHINA-RoHS: People’s Republic of China Electronic Industry Standard SJ/T11364—2006

http://www.aeanet.org/governmentaffairs/gajl_LABELING_SJT11364_2006ENG.asp

For more detailed explanations please contact our Quality, Environment and Safety Manager Rolf Nussbaumer ( china-rohs@schurter.ch ) or your regional sales contact.