WEEE & RoHS: The conformity detectives

"The onus is on manufacturers to demonstrate conformity - and continuing conformity with the EU regulations. The cost of a recall if a failure were identified would, for most, be catastrophic. A complete analysis may involve the destruction of the article and effectively turning it into an electronic soup. This is time consuming and also expensive. It is possible, however, to get a quick and accurate screening of components and assemblies using X-ray fluorescence. This has several advantages, taking only a few seconds, being non-destructive and also automated if many similar components need testing. The X-ray fluorescence method is especially economical for screening the components as a first step of the inspection process." Source: electronicsweekly.com