The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances DirectiveIn 2004, the European Parliament passed the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive to "protect human health and the environment by restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in new equipment" and to complement the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations. It covers the same scope of equipment as the WEEE regulations, except that Category 8, Medical Devices, and Category 9, Monitoring and Control Instruments, are excluded from the RoHS directive. Because National Instruments falls under Category 9, NI is outside of the directive's scope. However, NI recognizes that eliminating certain hazardous substances from our products is beneficial not only to the environment but also to NI customers and employees. Since the 1990s, we have researched and tested methods for reducing the use of these hazardous substances, and we continue to actively work toward producing RoHS-compliant products. In our continuing efforts to achieve RoHS compliance for our products, the NI RoHS Compliance Team has formed partnerships with our component suppliers to ensure their compliance with the RoHS directive. Additionally, NI manufacturing and engineering teams are working to adapt our products to use RoHS-compliant components and manufacturing processes. NI products are used in various applications that may affect customer requirements for RoHS compliance. In most instances, NI customers do not require RoHS-compliant products, including customers using NI products for development or production of their end products, as well as customers who embed an NI product in an end product that is classified as either Category 8 or Category 9. An NI product requires RoHS compliance only if a customer sells an end product that falls within the RoHS directive's scope. NI actively works with these customers to ensure we meet their needs. NI continues to monitor the status of the RoHS directive and forthcoming legislation from EU countries and other countries around the world and will fully comply with any legislation affecting our products. View the full text of the RoHS directive as established by the European Parliament. For more information, contact the NI RoHS Compliance Team at RoHS@ni.com. |
