European Union
EU RoHS: The 10 Restricted Substances
EU RoHS restricts ten specific hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. It is narrower than REACH, but it applies to almost every EEE product sold in the EU.
RoHS is Directive 2011/65/EU (the "RoHS Recast" or "RoHS 2"), which entered into force on 21 July 2011 and applies to essentially all products with an electrical or electronic component, unless specifically excluded.
It restricts ten substances: lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), and four phthalates (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP) — the phthalates were added by Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/863.
Exemptions are listed in Annexes III and IV and are updated periodically through delegated directives.
The European Commission completed a comprehensive review of the Directive in December 2023, publishing an evaluation report and proposing targeted amendments, after a public consultation that ran March–June 2022.
Who must comply
- Products with the ten restricted substances above the applicable limit cannot be placed on the EU market unless an exemption applies.
Deadlines
- 2003-01-27 — The original RoHS Directive (RoHS 1), the predecessor to the current law, entered into force. (European Commission — RoHS Directive, as of 2026-09-27)
- 2011-07-21 — The current Directive 2011/65/EU ("RoHS 2" / "RoHS Recast") entered into force. (European Commission — RoHS Directive, as of 2026-09-27)
- 2013-01-02 — Transposition deadline for EU member states. (European Commission — RoHS Directive, as of 2026-09-27)
- 2015-06-04 — Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/863 (signed 31 March 2015) is published in the Official Journal, adding four phthalates (DEHP, BBP, DBP, DIBP) to the restricted-substances list. (EUR-Lex — Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/863, as of 2026-09-27)
- 2023-12-07 — The Commission's review of the Directive was finalized, with proposed targeted amendments. (European Commission — RoHS Directive, as of 2026-09-27)
How Rumzer helps
- MatCheck covers EU RoHS among the 20+ global regulations included in every plan, checking BOMs down to the substance level without charging separately per regulation. Explore MatCheck
- RumzerCE's Low Voltage Directive product group covers much of the same electrical/electronic equipment RoHS applies to, so conformity teams can track both from the same platform. Explore RumzerCE
Sources
- European Commission — RoHS Directive — fetched 2026-09-27
- EUR-Lex — Directive 2011/65/EU — fetched 2026-09-27
- EUR-Lex — Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2015/863 — fetched 2026-09-27