Established in July 2006, the European Union's (EU's) Directives 2002/95/EC “Restriction on the use of certain Hazardous Substances” (RoHS) requires that new electrical and electronic equipment introduced to the marketplace does not contain any of the six banned substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, Hexavalent chromium, poly-brominated biphenyls (PBB) or poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), in quantities exceeding maximum concentrations as noted below:
| Substance name | Allowed Concentration (PPM) |
| Lead (Pb) | < 1000 |
| Mercury (Hg) | < 1000 |
| Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6) | < 1000 |
| Cadmium (Cd) | < 100 |
| Poly-brominated biphenyls (PBB) | < 1000 |
| Poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) | < 1000 |
In addition, California RoHS regulations took effect January 1, 2007, and prohibits a covered electronic device from being sold or offered for sale in California if that device is prohibited from being sold or offered for sale in the EU due to the presence of lead, mercury, cadmium, or Hexavalent chromium above certain maximum concentration values (MCVs).
To date, all products manufactured by Nanophase comply with the purity requirements of RoHS.