Managing And Qualifying Your Suppliers On REACH And RoHS

Companies manufacturing products or consumer parts that contain hazardous materials in the manufacturing process must comply with RoHS and REACH regulations. RoHS and REACH are two regulations that require compliance if a company intends to sell their products in the European Union. Hence, it is very important to know your vendor compliance status with respect to these regulations.

Supplier qualification

Sometimes it’s tough to gauge which of your suppliers are compliant with these regulations and which ones are not compliant. Many vendors will have limited understanding of RoHS and REACH. Often, manufacturers claim that their components are compliant without having any supporting documentation. In our research, we have found 4 measures that guide companies on compliance.

In order to ensure compliance with RoHS and REACH:

1. Each supplier should send in a Certificate of Compliance (CoC) indicating that the components or products in question are compliant. A CoC can be a written statement, a label or a blanket statement of compliance to a product line, material or process offered by a supplier.
2. If a CoC is not available, auditing a vendor or reviewing past audits is another way to ensure that the vendor is following the correct procedures.
3. Another option is to ask the vendor for the material declaration. The material declaration is a list of all substances in the part, product or process. This list can be compared with the specifications of RoHS and REACH. If no banned substances are present, the item can be considered compliant.
4. Suppliers must also include in the documentation any exemptions that have been taken.
   Anyone importing products into the European Union will be most affected. All manufactures in the European Union member states are also required to comply with the regulations.

Compliance with RoHS and REACH requires extensive knowledge of the supply chain, excellent record keeping, and in some cases testing. Whether you are an OEM or a supplier, understanding the restrictions on hazardous materials and compliance is critical to maintaining and expanding market share.

For more information about how ComplianceXL can help your company respond to RoHS and REACH compliance, contact our experts.