Korea upgrades RoHS laws

A new Korean law has merged the European RoHS, ELV and WEEE directives into one law

The Korean version of RoHS was passed in the Korean National Assembly on 27th April, 2007. The Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles will be enforced from 1st January, 2008 and its main feature is that it has merged the European RoHS, ELV and WEEE directives into one law.
The main household electronic products and OA equipment targeted by the RoHS legislation are TVs; refrigerators, household washing machines, air conditioners, personal computers, audio systems; mobile phones, printers, photocopiers and fax machines.

In these product categories the presence of the six hazardous substances covered also by EU RoHS and China RoHS will be banned.

All exemptions are also similar to those of the EU RoHS.

The major difference between China RoHS and Korea RoHS is that in Korea OEMs are not required to label their products as compliant.

The ELV bill bans four hazardous substances in all kinds of cars, vans and trucks under 3.5t.

All exceptions are similar to those of the EU ELV directive.

For WEEE, all manufacturers and importers have to provide recycling information about their electronics and vehicles and also place it on their homepages.

Until 31st December 2009 a vehicle's ratio of recyclable contents has to be over 85%.

After this date it must be over 95%.