How to Review a REACH or RoHS Compliance Warranty in a Supply Contract

October 2026. Catrin runs ops at an 18-person UK brand of compact LED inspection lamps. Łódź builds them. They carry Catrin's name, leave Leeds onto the GB market, and a Rotterdam distributor takes EU stock.

The packet — the draft you will sign — is Clause 12. Goods comply with all applicable REACH and RoHS, and a certificate comes with the first shipment. Goods means lamp IL-3. The sleeve and spare module IL-3-MOD are outside that line.

For example, the certificate is dated 12 March 2024. It names no exemption and no substance. Typical mistake: treat that PDF as a living notice. The hidden risk is signing on Friday a promise you cannot check.

The EU list stood at 253 entries on 4 February 2026. HSE added 15 substances or groups on 15 June 2026. In practice a 2024 slogan tracks neither. On 18 September 2026 the factory cited the usual lead exemption, and a Shenzhen RoHS letter from 2023.

Fees so far are a £4,800 sample. Clause 16 caps liability at fees paid in the prior 12 months and drops indirect loss. The order is 3,200 lamps, about £156,000. English law. Courts of England and Wales. If the fight is who owns an AI vendor's outputs, use that ownership review. Stay here for the chemical warranty.

Limits: SI 2012/3032 regulation 3. Ten substances and GB's own exemptions: the GOV.UK RoHS guide (2026). The notice duty: Article 33 (legislation.gov.uk).

Disclaimer: Checkory provides AI support, not legal advice. Consult a qualified lawyer for binding decisions.

Which RoHS limits and exemptions should the warranty name?

Name the instrument first. Leeds is Great Britain. Rotterdam is the EU. All applicable does not say which. Check Goods in the same pass. A sleeve is not electrical equipment. A spare module can still be part of the product the manufacturer must stand behind.

Homogeneous material is one material throughout. Don't average the lamp. Cadmium is 0.01 percent (100 ppm). Lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE, DEHP, BBP, DBP, and DIBP are 0.1 percent each (1,000 ppm).

Annex III and Annex IV are the exemption route. After the deadline the limit applies again. GB exemptions are independent of the EU, so a CE mark fails where GB has no twin entry. Rotterdam is Directive 2011/65/EU, on the European Commission RoHS page. Write two rows. Do not paste an EU expiry into the Leeds row.

When to refresh a REACH candidate-list notice?

Article 33 is a notice, not a registration. Above 0.1 percent weight by weight the supplier gives safe-use information, at least the substance name, and a consumer gets it free within 45 days. The 2024 PDF has neither a name nor a list date.

Do not invent a UK total from the 15 additions, and do not treat SCIP as a Leeds duty. Leeds: the HSE UK REACH Candidate List. Rotterdam: the ECHA note (4 February 2026).

Tell HSE if the substance is above 0.1 percent and over 1 tonne a year, within six months. See HSE substance-in-articles notification. Registration, on the HSE roles page, is a substance at or above 1 tonne a year, or an article substance meant to be released. Solder is not that case. A non-GB factory may appoint a GB only representative under Article 8 and must tell importers. Clause 12 does not. Refresh on a list change, an expiry, a material change, or the next shipment.

What to demand instead of a one-page certificate?

First shipment is a date, not a file. The manufacturer keeps the technical file and a signed declaration of conformity for 10 years after the last unit of the line is placed on the market. The importer holds a copy. The March 2024 PDF has no material, no test, and no exemption number.

The IPC materials-declaration page updates REACH and RoHS lists twice a year after ECHA moves the Candidate List, so a 2024 PDF goes stale. Leonardo REACh clause (2024) wants the SVHC update by the next delivery. Do not paste that OEM clause.

Workflow: regime → exemption row → substance name and list date → update by the next shipment → who holds the file for 10 years. Negotiate that. Don't reprint the 2024 wording under a new date.

How do you flow the promise to a sub-supplier?

The cable is not made in Łódź, and Leeds has not opened the 2023 letter. The manufacturer still needs the component supplier's information, including for parts built in. A warranty that stops at Łódź does not bind Shenzhen.

Name each source, starting with the cable. Flow the limits, the exemption row, and the update. On reasonable notice, Catrin may see the file and the test. Escalate if the letter is confidential and nothing replaces it. Pause if the line is we will comply, with no name and no file.

What to do when the cap swallows a compliance breach?

Clause 16 cuts warranty claims to fees paid in the prior 12 months. Today that is £4,800. The £156,000 order does not lift it yet. Indirect loss is out. The problem is a chemical warranty priced like a sample.

Add an indemnity for a third-party claim and for a shipment over the limit, outside that cap, or write a higher number on purpose. Recall cost is a different article, product recall and safety alerts. Parts life is another, spare-parts end of life and last-time buy. A 30-day cure can be met by resending the 2024 PDF. Write exits that PDF cannot cure: a false certificate, a refused update, a missing flow-down, or a shipment over the limit.

Before you sign, do you keep, rewrite, or walk?

Keep only when both markets are named, the sleeve and spare are in or out, the exemption row and the Article 33 name are filled, the file is open to you, and the indemnity sits outside Clause 16.

Rewrite while a cell is still an adjective. Replace all applicable and first-shipment only. Strike subject to Clause 16 unless the sample cap is a decision. Walk if Friday rests on the 2024 certificate, the usual-exemption email, and an unopened 2023 letter, against 3,200 lamps.

Verify the row and negotiate the blanks. Upload the same PDF or DOCX, then open Clause 12 against Clause 16. Success is one sentence that would pause Friday.