Atheros is committed to supporting our customers’ environmental initiatives and maintaining an environment management system. Atheros products shall comply with international laws and initiatives and/or customer procurement specifications for the elimination of banned substances and the monitoring of controlled substances of interest. Atheros actively strive to make a conscious effort to reduce and eliminate materials that are determined to be hazardous to the environment. Whenever possible, we strive to achieve concentration levels below the maximum tolerances.

EU RoHS
Since 2002, Atheros has offered lead-free product options that are fully compliant with EU RoHS (European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive 2002/95/EC. Elimination of lead has made Atheros products fully compliant with the EU RoHS Directive and our products do not intentionally contain the other restricted substances like cadmium, hexavalent chromium, mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). Atheros uses below symbol 1 to identify Pb-free and EU RoHS compliance on the product barcode label.

Symbol 1 (Atheros Pb-free and RoHS Compliance logo)

China RoHS
China RoHS is the term used by industry generally to describe legislation implemented by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) in the People's Republic of China for the control of pollution by electronic information products.

China RoHS is implemented in two stages:
Stage 1: Effective March 1, 2007 - All products in Electronic Information products (EIP) catalogue must be labeled with environmentally friendly use period (see below 2 symbols).  This is primarily applied to the manufacturer of the end product and not required for the component suppliers. According to the standard, these symbols are optional but Atheros has chosen to mark this symbol on the product barcode label.

Symbol 2 (e-label) for RoHS devices	Symbol 3 (Environmental Potential Use Period-EPUP) for non-RoHS devices

Stage 2: Effective Date Not Defined by MII – This is a future phase of China RoHS that will require pre-market testing compulsory for certification of products that are listed in a yet-to-be-released "catalogue".  The approved product shall be symbolized by the CCC mark and it will indicate that a product has met the requirements of the Compulsory Product Certification System. Currently, all Atheros products are not in the latest category.

Halogen-free
Halogenated materials have been used as fire retardants in electronic components and printed circuit boards throughout the industry for several decades. Although legislation does not require the elimination of halogenated flame retardants from our products, Atheros has taken proactive steps over the past few years to eliminate the use of these halogenated materials because halogenated flame retardants can be difficult to recycle and potentially harmful if inhaled during incineration. Now, Atheros could offer Halogen-Free devices for most of the packages to meet customer requirements.

REACH
REACH is the Regulation for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals. It entered into force on 1st June, 2007 to streamline and improve the former legislative framework on chemicals of the European Union (EU). The purpose of REACH is as follows:

• To improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals
• Enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry, a key sector for the economy of the EU
• Promote alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances
• Ensure the free circulation of substances on the internal market of the European Union.

In principle REACH applies to all chemicals, not only chemicals used in industrial processes but also in our day-to-day life. For example, in cleaning products, paints, as well as in articles such as clothes, furniture and electrical appliances.

Based on the latest candidate list of SVHC which was published by ECHA, Atheros products do not contain SVHC substances above 0.1 percent.

 

FAQ on Atheros lead-free products

 

Please contact your local Atheros representative to find out more on lead-free, RoHS and Halogen free compliant products from Atheros.

Local Sales Representatives