For sustainable economic growth, it is essential to develop and provide products with awareness of the global environment.
For this purpose, we have been operating an environment management system conforming to ISO 14001 and actively addressing to reduce or prohibit substance of concern to be contained in the products based on the environmental standards
such as the RoHS Directive and the ELV Directive as well as customers' requests. |
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1. RoHS Directive |
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The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive came into effects in February 2003 by the European Union (EU) to restrict hazardous substances used in electronic and electric appliances.
According to the Directive, from 1 July 2006 and onward in the EU countries, it has been made impossible to market electronic and electric appliances that contain substances prohibited by the RoHS Directive. |
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2. ELV Directive |
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The End-of-Life Vehicle Directive, aiming to reduce impacts of endof-life vehicles to the environment, was passed in May 2000 by the European Union (EU) and came into effects on 21 October 2000.
The Directive is intended to promote recycling of parts in vehicles and control containment of hazardous substances in parts.
It has been mandatory for vehicle manufacturers to conform to the applicable regulations concerning new vehicles sold from 1 July 2003 onward. |
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3. Maximum Allowable Value for Containment-prohibited Substances |
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The containment-prohibited substances of the ELV Directive are four substances: lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and mercury.
Besides the above four substances, the RoHS Directive adds two substances: poly brominated biphenyl (PBB) and poly brominated diphenyl ether (PBDE).
Some uses are exempted; however, in addition to intentional use, it is also prohibited for the wires to contain more than the standard value.
The regulation numerical standards for the containment-prohibited substances required by the RoHS Directive and the ELV Directive are as follows (as of July 2010). |
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MATERIAL |
MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE VALUE ppm |
RoHS DIRECTIVE |
ELV DIRECTIVE |
LEAD (Pb) |
1.000 |
1.000 |
MERCURY (Hg) |
1.000 |
1.000 |
CADMIUM (Cd) |
100 |
100 |
HEXAVALENT CHROMIUM (Cr6+) |
1.000 |
1.000 |
POLY BROMINATED BIPHENYL (PBB) |
1.000 |
－ |
POLY BROMINATED
DIPHENYL ETHER (PBDE) |
1.000 |
－ |
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Note 1） |
The maximum allowable value is a value per homogeneous material (a material that can not be mechanically decomposed into different materials). |
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■Supplement: Measurement method for hazardous substances
The actual measurement evaluations of controlled substances in the ELV Directive and the RoHS Directive (which includes the controls on the specific brominated substances such as PBB and PBDE) include the following representative methods. |
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ITEM |
ENERGY DISPERSIVE
X-RAY FLUORESCENSE SPECTROMETRY |
INDUCTIVITY COUPLED PLASMA
ATOMIC EMISSION SPECTROMETRY (ICP) |
DIPHENYL-
CARBAZIDE ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTO-
METRY |
GAS CHROMATO-
GRAPH MASS
SPECTROMETRY |
SUBJECT OF
ANALYSIS |
Cd, Pb, Hg, total Cr, total Br |
Cd, Pb, Hg |
Cr6+ |
PBB, PBDE |
DETECTION LIMIT |
50 ppm |
10 ppm |
2 ppm |
5 ppm |
USE |
Qualitative screening analysis |
Quantitative precision analysis |
REMARKS |
Non-destructive inspection possible, simple, no pretreatment required |
Pretreatment required, time-consuming |
Pretreatment required, time-consuming |
Extraction with soxlet tube, time-consuming |
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The fluorescent X-ray analysis, which requires a short time for inspection and allows a non-destructive inspection, although being qualitative analysis, is widely used commonly as a screening with a certain standard value specified. If such a standard is exceeded in a screening analysis, various quantitative analyses shall be conducted.
The fluorescent X-ray analysis has the following restrictions.
(1） |
The amount of total chromium can be detected, but the hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) content can not be detected separately; therefore, it shall be confirmed as a rule that the detected amount of total chromium dose not exceed the standard value. |
(2） |
For substances that contain brominated substances (not limited to PBB or PBDE, the RoHS control subjects), the detection waveform of bromine (Br) may cover over the waveforms of other environmental load substances; therefore, other quantitative analysis methods may be required. |
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4. REACH Regulation |
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REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals. This regulation is new chemical substance control in EU. It was forced from June 1 in 2007.A chemical substance should be registered and the evaluation of its safety is necessary if the chemical substance more than 1 ton is manufactured or imported in EU. A chemical substance name should be disclosed if more than 0.1 weight % of hazardous substance (SVHC: Substance of Very High Concern) that is determined by EU is contained in the
products after June 2009. Furthermore a notification should be done if the amount of SVHC is more than 1 ton per year.
38 chemical substances are in the candidate list of SVHC in July 2010. They will be furthermore increased in the future. |
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5. Chemical Substances on Many Inquiries |
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(1） |
Phthalates
Regulation of 6 kind of phthalate has been carried out for toy application by DIRECTIVE 2005/84/EC since January 16, 2007. The phthalate is generally used as plasticizer for PVC. Therefore it is difficult to prevent from mixing or contamination of the phthalate with conventional PVC wire. Our halogen free wires are manufactured in phthalate free process, you can use it as the phthalate free wire. |
(2） |
PFOS（perfluorooctane sulfonate It has been banned that the product which contains PFOS(perfluorooctane sulfonate) or relates of PFOS exceeding certain amount is placed on the market by DIRECTIVE 2006/122/EC after June 27,2008. PFOS was used as water proof agent. It is very persistent, accumulative and also suspected of toxic. The PFOS and relates of it are not used in our Electronic Wire products. Therefore you can use our products without care of these chemical substances. |
(3） |
Specific benzotriazole
2-(2H-1,2,3-benzotriazole-il)-4,6-di-tert-butylphenol（specific benzotriazole） has been designated as Class I Specified Chemical Substance of Japanese Law concerning the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture, etc, which is banned to manufacture and import actually November 10,2007. This substance was added to plastic resin as UV-absorbance. However this substance is not used in our Electronic Wire products.
Therefore you can use our products without care of this chemical substance. |
(4) |
Di-methyl fumarate(DMF)
After 1 May 2009, products containing Di-methyl fumarate (DMF) were prohibited from being placed on and sold on the market in EU by DIRECTIVE 2009/251/EC. Di-methyl fumarate is packaged in the small bags in furniture to prevent the products
from getting moldy. However, it causes allergic reaction when it touches human skin and it is prohibited. The DMF is not used in our Electronic Wire products and its packing. Therefore you can use our products without care of this chemical substance. |
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