RoHS Compliance
In an effort to improve the health of our environment, the European Union introduced the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive in 2002. RoHS was modified in 2011 to include medical devices (with the exception of active implantable devices; although, it is presumed that active implantable devices will be included in the RoHS Directive in the future). The initiative behind RoHS is to eliminate the following harmful substances which are commonly found in electronic equipment:
- Lead
- Mercury
- Cadmium
- Hexavalent chromium
- Polybrominated biphenyls
- Polybrominated diphenyl ether
Although the RoHS directive is not mandatory in the United States, some U.S. companies are taking strides to become RoHS compliant in an effort to protect the environment from large amounts of electronic waste and to benefit their customers. If RoHS, or a similar directive, becomes mandatory in the U.S. in the coming years, consumers will not have access to the same products they do currently.
DSI is proud to announce a strategic initiative to make all products currently manufactured RoHS compliant by the end of 2017. The policy is becoming more prominent; additional countries have started to adopt the policy as this is a best practice for corporations to implement, even if not currently required. DSI has already started the migration process to become RoHS compliant. We are making this resource investment now to avoid any potential disruption of service in the future. To meet this goal, all DSI products that are not currently RoHS compliant, (these are products that were created prior to RoHS existing and contain parts that are not RoHS compliant) will either be replaced with a RoHS compliant model, updated to meet RoHS compliance, or discontinued.
By deciding to be RoHS compliant, DSI is contributing to a healthier environment by moving to cleaner processes and reducing the use of hazardous materials. This initiative also benefits DSI customers as they will have access to the latest, environmentally-friendly physiologic monitoring products available through DSI. DSI will announce specific timelines to customers with ample notice to allow seamless transitions to new RoHS complaint products.
To learn more about the RoHS, visit: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/rohs_eee/