Earphones imported or manufactured in the EU must comply with regulations, such as RoHS, REACH and the Radio Equipment Directive. In this guide, we list relevant EU standards, regulations, certification and labeling requirements for both wired and wireless earphones.
Mentioned products
Earbuds
Headsets
Noise-canceling earphones
Bluetooth earphones
Wireless earphones
Wired earphones
CE Mark
Under the EMC Directive, all applicable products, including earphones, must bear a permanent CE mark.
RoHS Directive
The RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive took effect for the purpose of limiting the usage of certain hazardous substances in electronic products and increasing the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment that is appropriately treated and to reduce the volume that goes to disposal.
Some of the restricted substances and the concentration threshold are listed below:
Cadmium < 100 ppm
Lead < 1000 ppm
Mercury < 1000 ppm
Hexavalent Chromium < 1000 ppm
These substances can be found in materials and components such as solder, paint, or batteries.
RoHS Components
Importers should instruct the manufacturers that each individual component of the electronic product must conform to the requirements of the RoHS Directive.
RoHS Lab Testing
Importers can choose either to get a RoHS compliance test report from the supplier or a lab-testing company. The cost of RoHS testing starts from at least $10 per component. However, it gets more costly when the tested parts increase.
Here are some companies offering RoHS testing:
QIMA
Bureau Veritas
SGS
Intertek
TUV
You can also find more RoHS testing companies on this list.
CE Mark
RoHS requires applicable electronic products to carry a permanent CE marking.
