Compliance
A supplier saying the product is REACH compliant is answering a question nobody asked. REACH does not certify products. It places duties on substances, and those duties follow the article you import.
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REACH regulates chemical substances across the European market. RoHS restricts specific hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. They overlap on electronics and they are not the same rule, and treating one as covering the other is the most common compliance error in this area.
The difference in logic matters. REACH does not require a product to be approved before sale. It requires that substances be registered, that dangerous ones be authorised or restricted, and that information about certain substances travel through the supply chain. RoHS is a restriction at product level: ten substances, with maximum concentrations, in a defined category of goods.
So a product can be REACH compliant and fail RoHS, or comply with RoHS while containing an SVHC above the threshold and triggering a REACH information duty. A single sentence claiming both, without the documents behind it, is a sentence rather than a position.
The obligations attach to articles, meaning an object that has a shape, surface or design that determines its function more than its chemical composition. A mug is an article. The glaze on the mug is a mixture, and the substances in it are subject to their own rules.
The core duty for an importer is information. Where an article contains a substance on the candidate list of substances of very high concern above 0.1 percent by weight, the supplier must give the recipient enough information to allow safe use, and at minimum the name of the substance. A consumer can request that information and must receive it within 45 days.
There is also a notification duty to the European Chemicals Agency where the article contains a listed substance above the threshold and the producer or importer is established in the EU, with a separate database obligation for articles placed on the market.
The candidate list changes, usually twice a year. It has grown from a handful of entries to well over two hundred. A declaration written in 2019 and filed since then is a statement about a list that no longer exists.
The threshold is 0.1 percent by weight of the article, not of the shipment and not of the homogeneous material. That distinction decides most arguments.
If an article is a phone charger, the article is the charger, and 0.1 percent is measured against its total weight. A substance present at a higher concentration inside one small component may still be below the threshold measured against the whole, or may not, depending on the masses. The calculation is arithmetic and it is rarely done.
Where an article is assembled from several articles, each may be assessed on its own. The practical consequence for a buyer is that the answer depends on how the product is defined, which is exactly the kind of question a supplier will answer loosely unless pressed.
The candidate list itself is not a ban. A product can contain a listed substance above the threshold and be lawfully sold, provided the information duty is met and no restriction applies. That is why the useful request is not are we compliant, but which listed substances are present and at what concentration.
RoHS restricts ten substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and four phthalates. Maximum concentrations are set by weight in homogeneous materials, which is a stricter basis than an article-level threshold.
Homogeneous material means a material of uniform composition that cannot be separated mechanically into different materials. The solder on a board, the plastic of a housing and the coating on a screw are separate homogeneous materials, each assessed separately. This is why a product can pass an article-level check and fail RoHS: one small part carries a restricted substance above the limit while the whole product is far below it.
Scope widened in 2019 to cover all electrical and electronic equipment, with a set of exclusions such as large-scale stationary industrial tools and certain military equipment. Categories that were previously outside the directive, including many consumer products with a battery or a plug, came inside it.
Exemptions exist for applications where no substitute is available, and they are time limited and reviewed. An exemption cited on a test report from five years ago may have expired, which turns a compliant product into a non-compliant one without anything changing in the factory.
Exemption expiry is worth diarising rather than assuming. A report that relies on an exemption does not become invalid on the day the exemption lapses, but the product does, and the buyer usually finds out from a customer rather than from the supplier. Ask which exemptions the report relies on and when each is next reviewed.
A test report proves that the samples submitted, on the date stated, met the limits tested, in the materials tested. That is narrower than buyers assume.
The technique matters too. Screening methods such as X-ray fluorescence indicate the presence of an element and cannot confirm a compound or a concentration at the level a limit requires. A screening report is a useful first pass and a weak final answer.
Suppliers write we are REACH and RoHS compliant because buyers ask for a sentence. The sentence is not evidence and it is not the obligation.
What the importer needs is a declaration that names the substances, the thresholds and the basis of the assessment, signed by a named person, with the test reports referenced by number and date, and with a statement of which version of the product was assessed. That document can be checked. A sentence cannot.
There is also a liability asymmetry worth understanding before the first order. Under REACH, the importer established in the EU carries duties that the Chinese manufacturer does not, including the notification and information obligations. The supplier's declaration does not transfer those duties; it only supplies the facts you need to meet them.
A purchase order is the cheapest compliance instrument available, because it converts a hope into a contractual term.
Ask for the full material declaration per homogeneous material, not per product. Ask for test reports by number and date, with the laboratory named and its accreditation stated. Ask for a statement that no candidate list substance above 0.1 percent is present, or if one is, its identity and concentration. Ask which version of the product the reports cover, and require notification before any change to material, pigment, supplier or factory.
Add a clause: the seller warrants that the goods conform to the stated substance requirements as of the date of shipment, and will provide updated documentation on request within a stated period. That clause is what makes a supplier answer a question in year two rather than in year one.
Keep the file per product, not per shipment. The documents describe a product; shipments repeat. A folder organised by shipment means the same test report is filed eleven times and cannot be found when a customer asks.
Supplier change control is the clause that earns its place later. A factory that switches a pigment supplier, a plating subcontractor or a resin grade has changed the material, even though the part number and the drawing are identical. Requiring notice before the change, and a test after it, is the difference between a documented product and a documented version of it.
Q Is REACH a certificate?
No. REACH does not certify products. It imposes registration, authorisation, restriction and information duties on substances. There is no REACH certificate, and a document with that title is a supplier's declaration or a laboratory report, not an official approval.
Q What does 0.1 percent refer to?
0.1 percent by weight of the article, for the candidate list information duty. RoHS uses a different basis: maximum concentration by weight in each homogeneous material. The two thresholds are not interchangeable, which is why a product can pass one and fail the other.
Q Does RoHS apply to products without a battery?
It applies to electrical and electronic equipment, which includes mains-powered products. Since 2019 the scope has covered all equipment categories, with limited exclusions. A product with a motor, a heating element or a power supply is very likely in scope.
Q How old can a test report be before it needs replacing?
There is no single legal expiry, and the practical answer is shorter than most buyers assume. The candidate list changes twice a year, exemptions expire, and a reformulated product is a different product. A report that does not state which version was tested cannot be relied on at all.
Q Who is responsible for compliance, the factory or me?
The factory owes you accurate information. As importer in the destination market you carry the obligations that follow from it, including information duties and, in the EU, notification duties where applicable. A supplier declaration supports your position; it does not replace it.
Q My product contains recycled plastic. Does that change anything?
It can. Recycled content introduces variability that virgin material does not have, and some regimes require specific assessment of recycled streams. Ask for the input specification and the test basis for the recycled material rather than for the finished article alone.
Related pages
Tell us the product and the market. We will list the documentation a buyer normally holds, so a compliance question does not turn into a held container.
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