The European Union (EU) directive 2002/95/EC "on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment" or RoHS was implemented in July 2006 (EU 2003) and was the first of many RoHS (-like) regulations that have been passed. These policies are now generally referred to as the RoHS Directive and are often referred to as "Lead-Free" legislation.
 
Research has shown that printed circuit boards made using lead-free materials can be more susceptible to corrosion than their tin/lead counterparts and corrosion failures have occurred on hard disk drives (HDD), graphic cards, and motherboards in desktop and workstation systems.
 
Data centers in many urban locations have reported failures of servers and hard disk drives due to sulfur corrosion. Desktop and laptop computers, servers, data communications (datacom) equipment and other information technology (IT) equipment are now at risk due to RoHS.
 
Acidic gases and submicron particulates are typically found in urban environments with sulfur oxides, active sulfur compounds, and inorganic chlorides being the primary culprits in the corrosion of electronic components,. Additionally, oxides of nitrogen can cause electronics to corrode. Although most computer rooms in commercial buildings are typically protected against temperature and humidity variations, particulates and acidic (corrosive) gases can be drawn in through the building's air handling system(s) causing electronics to corrode over a period of time - especially those produced since the passage of various "lead-free" regulations.