RoHS & REACH Compliance
RoHS restricts hazardous substances in electrical equipment; REACH governs chemicals and substances of very high concern in articles.
- Standard
- RoHS / REACH
- Indicative timeline
- 6-12 weeks
- Discipline
- Product & Market Access
- Assessment type
- Independent third-party assessment
The standard
Overview
RoHS restricts ten substances in electrical and electronic equipment, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, two brominated flame retardants and four phthalates, at limits set by homogeneous material. REACH covers the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals. Since Brexit, UK REACH runs in parallel with EU REACH and is administered by the Health and Safety Executive.
Neither is a certification scheme. Compliance is declared by the manufacturer and supported by evidence: supplier declarations, material disclosure, exemption records and, where needed, laboratory analysis. RoHS conformity forms part of UKCA and CE marking for equipment in scope, while REACH requires communication of substances of very high concern present above 0.1 per cent in an article.
UKCert reviews the bill of materials, tests the quality of supplier evidence rather than accepting declarations at face value, checks that any exemptions claimed remain in force, and compiles technical documentation to EN IEC 63000.
Who this is for
- Manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment
- Importers and own-brand distributors of finished products
- Component and sub-assembly suppliers asked for declarations
- Companies supplying articles into UK and EU supply chains
- Businesses whose customers request full material disclosure
What it gives you
Why organisations certify
What a certified RoHS / REACH assessment gives you once the certificate is issued.
Market Access Retained
Non-compliant equipment cannot lawfully be placed on the GB or EU market. Evidenced compliance gives you the documentation enforcement authorities ask for if a product is challenged.
Supply Chain Evidence
Customers increasingly ask for material declarations before they will buy. Holding structured supplier data answers those requests without chasing every component each time.
Enforcement Readiness
The Office for Product Safety and Standards can request technical documentation. A file built to EN IEC 63000 gives a direct answer instead of a scramble.
Controlled Substance Risk
The candidate list grows twice a year. Mapping substances to parts means a new entry is assessed against the affected components rather than the whole catalogue.
Earlier Design Decisions
Restricted substance checks at component selection avoid redesign later. Choosing a compliant part costs nothing; replacing one after tooling is committed costs a great deal.
Waste Duty Alignment
Restricted substance control supports wider producer responsibility duties, including WEEE and packaging obligations, which draw on the same product and material data.
Scope
What the assessment covers
The areas an assessor works through. Your final scope is confirmed in writing before any audit is booked.
- Bill of materials and homogeneous material breakdown
- Supplier declaration and full material disclosure review
- RoHS Annex III and IV exemption verification
- XRF screening and IEC 62321 test coordination
- EN IEC 63000 technical documentation file
- SVHC candidate list screening above 0.1 per cent
- UK REACH and EU REACH registration duties
- Article 33 supply chain communication records
How it runs
The assessment, stage by stage
From first enquiry to certificate. Each stage is agreed with you before it starts.
-
Scope and Category
We confirm which products fall within the RoHS categories, which items are articles or substances under REACH, and which markets, Great Britain, the EU or both, the duties arise in.
-
Material Data Collection
Supplier declarations, material composition data and part-level information are gathered against the bill of materials. Missing or generic responses are identified and chased at component level.
-
Evidence Assessment
Declarations are checked for age, scope and specificity. Where evidence is weak or a part is high risk, XRF screening or IEC 62321 laboratory analysis is arranged.
-
Exemption Review
Any reliance on a RoHS exemption is checked against the current annexes and expiry dates. Expired or misapplied exemptions are flagged for redesign or alternative sourcing.
-
Documentation Build
A technical documentation file is compiled to EN IEC 63000, with the declaration of conformity, supplier evidence, test reports and the internal control procedure that keeps it current.
-
Ongoing Surveillance
Candidate list updates, exemption expiries and component changes are reviewed on a set cycle. Declarations are reissued when a change affects the substances present in a product.
Questions
RoHS / REACH — frequently asked
Anything here that does not cover your situation, put it to an assessor rather than guessing at it.
Same discipline
Other schemes in Product & Market Access
Certifying against more than one standard?
Where you hold several standards, shared clauses are assessed once in a combined visit rather than as separate audits. Talk it through with an assessor before you decide what RoHS / REACH should sit alongside.