Tricky Terms, part one: RoHS

On just about every page on the Chester Creek website, you'll see this phrase: RoHS Compliant.

Now, most people shrug that phrase off, assume it means something good, and move on. To be honest, before I started working at Chester Creek, I had never heard the acronym, either. In fact, most people in the US probably have either not heard of RoHS or haven't paid any attention to it.

This is because RoHS stands for "Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive," (the D must be silent) and directive doesn't sound much like a US law term, that is because it's not.  The RoHS directive is a European Union directive that took affect in mid-2006 in all the member states of the EU.  While Chester Creek is not based in the EU (think Minnesota), and our keyboards are not made in the EU, CCT has chosen to make it's products available to EU countries.  Moreover, while RoHS is not law in the states, it does provide strict guidelines that Chester Creek has chosen to adhere to.

Ahh, now we come to the heart of the matter.  Just what are those guidlines, you ask?  Probably a good question, since we're three paragraphs in, with nary a hint of the actual, practicable meaning of the term.

RoHS restricts use of:

• Lead
• Cadmium
• Mercury
• Hexavalent Chromium
• Polybrominated Biphenyls
• Diphenyl Ethers/Oxides

These are substances that are found or have in the past been found in a large number of consumer electronics across a broad spectrum of devices, including batteries, lamps, paints, and vinyl.  Heavy metals like lead and mercury are widely known to be dangerous, but low-level toxicity results from use of the other restricted materials.  Chester Creek strives to produce only the highest-quality computer accessories, bringing you the safest, sturdiest, and funnest (if you know what I mean, how is it not a word?) products on the market.