In many countries around the world products need to comply with regulations. Often regulations forbid the use of certain raw materials and subject the product to functionality and performance rules. Compliance in many cases has to be substantiated by laboratory tests. Furthermore the labelling and packaging often needs to comply with certain regulations.
In the past, many suppliers have not taken these regulations very seriously or have been unaware of their obligations. This enabled them to offer cheaper prices. Mostly they got away with it because there was not much control. MSupport are very aware of their responsibility and make every effort to control the production for quality and raw material contents. For this, we have our own buying staff in China.
More and more countries are introducing regulations, often with the objective to protect the consumer and the environment against undesirable substances and to establish a chain of product liability.
Below we have summarised some regulations that apply to our products. This list is by no means meant to be exhaustive and is constantly subject to changes. The information is only indicative and you should consult the original law texts in your country to establish how you are affected.
Regulations in the EU
The whole supply chain bears a responsibility for goods brought into the EU.
Ultimately most products should be CE marked and the supply chain including the customer should make sure that this mark has been justly applied based on the correct regulations. Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (EEA EFTA States), adhere to the same principles.
The EU Blue Guide clarifies responsibilities in the supply chain. You can find a link to the Blue Guide in the right hand frame in this page.
The RoHS Directive (2015/863) forbids the use of certain raw materials and this has
to be substantiated by laboratory tests. A link is supplied in the right hand frame on this page.
The Low Voltage Directive ( 2006/95/EU amended by 2014/35/EU) details some performance limitations for the safety of the consumer that for instance earphones need to adhere to.
REACH is a European Union Regulation and stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. Its purpose is to protect the health of people and environment against potential harmful chemicals.
Companies are obligated to identify the chemicals used in their products and evaluate the risk that this poses and inform their clients if any harmful substances on the REACH list within certain limits have been found.
A link to the REACH regulation is supplied in the right hand frame on this page.
In the EU labelling and packaging regulations apply.
Since 2016 there is a noticeable increase in control activities, the EU has now started to seriously enforce these regulations. Non-compliant goods are not allowed into the EU.
Once the goods have been successfully imported into the EU, for some products there is a responsibility concerning recycling. For electrical and electronic products
this is laid down in the WEEE directive (2012/19/EU) and the EEA EFTA States also adhere to this. A link is provided in the right hand frame on this page.
Who is responsible for what depends on your status in the supply chain and other issues like whether the product is branded or not. In principle where WEEE is concerned, unless you buy from a local distributor, you will be the responsible party for WEEE. In a number of countries we take over this responsibility from our customers .
For earphones we have constructed a simple flow chart for you. If you want to find out if the product you buy complies with EU law you can download it from the right hand frame of this page.