When designing a new instrument, does screening for Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) substances in microscope parts and components take you a long time?
We’ve made screening our OEM components for RoHS substances quick and easy—no inquiry email needed. Simply download the list of confirmed RoHS compliant microscope components from our website to get answers in seconds.
Read on to learn more about our efforts to provide environmentally friendly optical components and simplify the RoHS compliance process for our customers.
Providing Environmentally Friendly Objectives and Microscope Components
As a leading manufacturer and supplier of OEM microscopy components that easily integrate into advanced devices for scientific research, inspection, and production facilities, we put a strong focus on quality assurance.
As part of that effort, we have an internal system that prevents us from procuring components that contain any specific hazardous substances in accordance with the Olympus Group Green Procurement Standard. Our standard complies with the requirements of the RoHS Directive, a European Union (EU) law that governs EU member countries.
Learn more about the Olympus Group Green Procurement Standard and specific hazardous substances here.
What Is the RoHS Directive?
Until about 20 years ago, businesses were generally less environmentally conscious. In EU countries, about 90% of waste electrical and electronic equipment, also known as WEEE or e-waste, was sent to a landfill or incinerated without any pretreatment. This caused lead contamination and other environmental issues.
To address these problems, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS 1, 2002/95/EC)—the law that restricts the use of specific hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment—was adopted by the EU in February 2003 and took effect on July 1, 2006. The law was later revised, and the RoHS 2 directive (2011/65/EU) took effect in January 2013.
The objectives of the RoHS Directive are to:
- Facilitate the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment
- Restrict the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment to be marketed in the EU
This law helps prevent hazardous substances from affecting human health and the environment when the equipment is eventually sent to a landfill or incinerated.
List of Restricted Substances Under the RoHS 2 Directive
The RoHS 2 directive restricts the use of 10 substances:
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The maximum concentrations for the RoHS restricted substances are shown in the image below:
Substances banned under the RoHS 2 directive (2011/65/EC) and their maximum concentrations
Providing a List of Confirmed RoHS Compliant Optical Parts and Components
Manufacturers must manage hazardous substances specified in the RoHS Directive for any products that will be marketed in Europe, as well as prepare a Declaration of Conformity (DoC) and affix a Conformitè Europëenne (CE) mark to their products.
To help with this effort, we would deliver a prepared list of confirmed RoHS products for objectives and various other components when requested by customers. But obtaining permission to disclose information and checking the list took some time, and many customers wanted to market their products in Europe as soon as possible.
To streamline this process, we made the list of confirmed RoHS products available online for immediate download on our website. This covers some key Olympus optical components and parts so that you can provide the necessary information to your customers without delay.
The list contains about 250 OEM components, with a focus on our objectives. We will continue to add more components and optics to the list, giving you an effective online tool to verify the RoHS compliance of your instruments.
Our list of confirmed RoHS products covers a broad range of Olympus optical components
To learn more about our high-quality optical components that integrate into microscope designs, visit our online resource center for OEM microscopy components.
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