RoHS and REACH are frequently quoted in the same breath as a single compliance statement, but they are different regulations with different obligations. Understanding REACH compliance makes supplier qualification considerably more straightforward.
RoHS: restricting substances in the product
RoHS — the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive — limits the concentration of specific substances in electrical and electronic equipment. The restricted list includes lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and several brominated flame retardants and plasticisers.
For a connector or cable assembly, RoHS compliance is about the materials that make up the product: contact plating, solder, housing plastics, insulation compounds and jacket materials. Compliance is demonstrated by material declarations from the component manufacturers, supported by test data where required.
REACH compliance: regulating substances across the supply chain
REACH operates differently. It does not restrict products; it regulates chemicals, and it places obligations on anyone placing articles on the European market to communicate information about Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) above a threshold concentration.
The practical implication for connectors is that a REACH declaration is a statement about what is in the product and at what concentration — not simply a certificate that the product is compliant. The SVHC candidate list is updated periodically, so a declaration has a date, and an old declaration may not cover substances added since.
Why the documentation matters more than the claim
Most suppliers will state that their products are RoHS and REACH compliant. The useful question is what they can produce when your quality system asks for evidence.
For a connector with multiple material components — contacts, insulator, shell, plating, cable jacket, moulding compound — compliance depends on the declarations of each material supplier. A supplier who manufactures and controls the material chain can produce those documents. A trader may only be able to pass on a claim received from someone else.
This is one reason we manufacture rather than resell: the material declarations we provide are based on our own incoming material control, not on what a third party told us.
What to ask a supplier
- Can you supply a RoHS declaration for this specific part number, not just a general statement?
- Can you supply a REACH SVHC declaration, and what is its revision date?
- Are material certificates retained for the batches supplied to us?
- Will we be notified if a material or a substance status changes?
- Do you hold ISO 9001 certification, and is change control documented?
A supplier who can answer all five without referring the question elsewhere is likely to be a manufacturer rather than a middleman.
Beyond RoHS and REACH
Depending on the market, additional requirements may apply: UL recognition for certain components, California Proposition 65 declarations, conflict-minerals reporting, or sector-specific standards in medical and automotive supply. It is worth establishing at the enquiry stage which of these your programme requires, because retrofitting documentation into a released design is considerably more expensive than building it in.
How we handle compliance
KINKUO products use RoHS and REACH compliant materials, with UL-recognised components where a project requires them. Material declarations are available on request for specific part numbers, and our ISO 9001:2015 quality system provides documented change control.
If your programme has specific compliance requirements, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will confirm what we can supply before you commit. Contact our engineering team, read about our quality control process, or browse the product range.
Standards and further reading
Primary reference material for this topic is published by RoHS, REACH, ISO 9001. Where a customer programme requires conformance to a specific standard, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will confirm what documentation we can supply.
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