Nortra-Cables, Inc.

RoHS
Restriction of Hazardous Substances

Taken from the European Commission guidelines,

"EU legislation restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC) and promoting the collection and recycling of such equipment (WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC) has been in force since February 2003. The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge. The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives."

"Inadequately treated e-waste poses environmental and health risks. In December 2008, the European Commission therefore proposed to revise the directives on electrical and electronic equipment in order to tackle the fast increasing waste stream of such products. The aim is to increase the amount of e-waste that is appropriately treated and to reduce the volume that goes to disposal."

Nortra Cables, by default, now certifies that all materials purchased for assembly manufacturing is free of hazardous levels of the chemicals deemed most harmful to the enviornment by the European Commission. Nortra is able to produce RoHS Certificates certifying that an assembly is RoHS Compliant to current regulations.

We can also offer advice regarding RoHS exemptions and get your company up to speed on when these regulations are due to expire. We can help you with a plan to ensure your product meets current RoHS 2 and is ready for future RoHS 3 processes. Get ahead of the game.

REACH
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals

Taken from the European Chemicals Agency,

"REACH is a regulation of the European Union, adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals."

In principle, REACH applies to all chemical substances; not only those used in industrial processes but also in our day-to-day lives, for example in cleaning products, paints as well as in articles such as clothes, furniture and electrical appliances.

Nortra is able to (upon request) certify that the material used to produce your product is free of any of the 173+ (as of January, 2017) chemicals called out by current REACH regulations. This may be important for a lot of medical companies where electrical components may be placed in sensitive environments.

If this is something you think your products may benefit from, feel free to call and ask to talk to someone about Nortra's Sustainability Program.