RoHS stands for "Restriction of Hazardous Substances," an authorized directive passed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union on January 27, 2003. The directive requires that manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment reduce the usage of six hazardous substances by July of 2006. These six substances include:
1) Lead
2) Hexavalent chromium
3) Mercury
4) Polybrominated biphenyl
5) Cadmium
6) Polybrominated diphenyl

CE Marking is the symbol as shown on the top of this page. The letters "CE" are the abbreviation of French phrase "Conformit Europene" which literally means "European Conformity". The term initially used was "EC Mark" and it was officially replaced by "CE Marking" in the Directive 93/68/EEC in 1993. "CE Marking" is now used in all EU official documents.

"CE Mark" is also in use, but it is NOT the official term. For instance, in the Directive 2007/47/ec, of 5 September 2007, amending the directives 90/385/eec, 93/42/eec & 98/8/ec, the term CE Marking appears 9 times whereas CE Mark appears nowhere in the entire 35-page document.

1. CE Marking on a product is a manufacturer's declaration that the product complies with the essential requirements of the relevant European health, safety and environmental protection legislation, in practice by many of the so-called Product Directives.*

*Product Directives contains the "essential requirements" and/or "performance levels" and "Harmonized Standards" to which the products must conform. Harmonized Standards are the technical specifications (European Standards or Harmonization Documents) which are established by several European standards agencies (CEN, CENELEC, etc).

CEN stands for European Committee for Standardization.

CENELEC stands for European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization.

2. CE Marking on a product indicates to governmental officials that the product may be legally placed on the market in their country.
3. CE Marking on a product ensures the free movement of the product within the EFTA & European Union (EU) single market (total 28 countries), and
4. CE Marking on a product permits the withdrawal of the non-conforming products by customs and enforcement/vigilance authorities.

Depending on the type of equipment that the manufacturers have, FCC certification might be required. The two most common FCC Certifications requirements are FCC Part 15 and FCC Part 68.

Telecommunications equipment has to be tested and be in compliances with FCC Part 68. FCC Part 68 is the FCC Certification for connection to the telephone network. FCC has privatized some of the FCC Part 68 requirements. More information on regulatory compliance can be found at FCC Part 68

The other most common FCC Certification for most electronic equipment is FCC Part 15. FCC Part 15 covers unintentional testing and evaluation as well as low power un-licensed transmitters. More information on this can be found at FCC Part 15

Safety testing and certification is not a FCC Certification requirement. Local states, cities, counties, and municipalities regulate the requirement for safety certification. The Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) program is set up to cover safety certification. More information on this can be found at Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory

It is important that manufactures cover the FCC Certification for equipment before the equipment is offered for sale in the United States.