China has clarified the requirements for demonstrating conformity to China RoHS 2 substance restrictions.  The restrictions came into effect on March 15, 2019 and the new conformity requirements will be enforced as of November 1, 2019.

Background

In March 2018, the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) published the “1st Compliance Management Catalogue of Electric Appliances and Electronic Products for Restriction Use Hazardous Substances” and “Applications Exempted from the Restriction in Product Compliance Management Catalogue” for China RoHS 2. The substance restrictions were specified as coming into effect on March 15, 2019. However, the compliance requirements were noticeably missing, creating confusion about what manufacturers needed to do by March 2019.

Conformity Assessment System going Forward

The Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation published the Implementation Measures on a Conformity Assessment System for the Restricted Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Products on 16 May 2019:

Electrical and electronic products which are listed in the RoHS 2 Catalogue and manufactured or imported after 1 November 2019 must comply with the new conformity assessment requirements. This includes:

• • refrigerators
  • air conditioners
  • washing machines
  • electric water heaters
  • printers
  • copiers
  • fax machines
  • televisions
  • monitors
  • microcomputers
  • mobile communication devices
  • telephones

Companies may choose one of two methods to complete the conformity assessment:

• • Voluntary Certification for Restricted Use of Hazardous Substance in Electrical and Electronic
    
  • Company Self-declaration
    

A compliance label is attached to the product based on which conformity method is used. Information related to conformity assessment will be published by the manufacturer on the information platform set up by MIIT and the State Administration of Market Regulation

Additional Information on the Self-Declaration Approach

The procedure and requirements for self declaration are specified in Annex 2 of the Notice. They leverage the China Standard GB/T 36560 2018 (China national adoption of IEC 63000 on technical documentation with respect to the restriction of hazardous substances). Manufacturers or their authorized representative must also submit a supplier declaration of conformity (SDoC).

Overall, the China RoHS self declaration is similar to the EU RoHS conformity requirements (i.e. EU DoC, CE Mark, and technical documentation file). However, unlike EU RoHS, the SDoC and technical documentation file must be uploaded into a repository (referred to as the “public service platform”) within 30 days of placing the product on the China market.

Enforcement

The Notice (section 5.3) states that non-conformity of products will be made public.

Further Information

The conformity assessment Notice was jointly published by the China SAMR (State Administration of Market Regulations of P. R.C.) and MIIT (Ministry of Industry &Information Technology) as SAMR MIIT Notice No.23 2019.