Highland Ham wrote:
The main reason is to support the continued use of tin/lead solder for
repairs to existing tin/lead soldered equipment. This also ensures a
continuing supply for home construction, which is specifically
excluded from the RoHS regulations:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/pdf/faq_weee.pdf
(see question 1.15).
An amateur constructor is only *required* to use lead-free solder
when repairing a product that was put on the market after July 2006,
and was therefore 'born lead-free'.
=========
Does the above mean that all CE labeled equipment put on market after
July 2006 has been constructed with Lead free solder ?

What we can say is that all equipment put on the market in the EU since
July 2006 *should* contain no lead or any of the other banned substances
(eg hexavalent chromium used for metal passivation).

The CE label attests that the product meets all relevant standards, but
I don't know absolutely for certain if that now includes RoHS
compliance. (We might imagine it would be, or should be - but that can
often be a trap. The only thing that counts is what the regulations
actually DO SAY.)


Also for example equipment from outside the EU , like American made
TenTec equipment (now CE approved), because it would be a requirement
for CE labeling , or has this type of labeling nothing to do with
actual construction methods ?

As I said, I'm not sure. You'd have to ask the manufacturer.

(Officially there is no such category as "CE approved" - it's another
one of those imagined things.)


--

73 from Ian GM3SEK 'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.co.uk/g3sek