Conformity certificates will not satisfy RoHS legislation

"Equipment manufacturers will be at risk if they rely only on certificates of conformity to prove they have complied with UK RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) legislation which comes into force next July. “A certificate of conformity is not necessarily enough,” said NWML RoHS technical manager Chris Smith. “There needs to be a risk assessment of the quality of that information.” UK RoHS legislation provides a ‘due diligence’ defence against being convicted of selling products that contain too much of six banned substances including lead, cadmium and mercury. Due diligence requires that ‘all reasonable steps’ have been taken to avoid committing the offence. However, what all reasonable steps are only becomes clear retrospectively, once cases have been tried." Source: electronicsweekly.com