Compliance: Beyond RoHS
By Tony Bradley, Contributing Writer -- EDN, June 20, 2006
RoHS takes effect on July 1, and as the deadline approaches other governments around the world are also busy crafting legislation to curb the use of hazardous substances in electronic equipment.
The European Union’s RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directives are leading the way for manufacturing and disposing of electronic equipment in a manner that reduces the impact on the environment.
So what’s next? Similar mandates are in the works in China, Japan, South Korea and the U.S., among others.
As the world starts to adopt eco-friendly regulations governing the substances that can be used in electronics or the proper method of disposing of electronic equipment, businesses in all countries--not just the country that enacted the law--are affected. Companies that want to do business in the regulated countries, or who sell parts or equipment used in devices that are manufactured or sold in these countries, must comply with the environmental regulations or risk financial penalties and loss of business partnerships.
China passed environmental legislation that is being implemented in two phases. Phase one, which goes into affect March 1, 2007, requires that products containing restricted substances be appropriately marked. The restricted substances are lead, mercury, cadmium; hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). The timeline for enforcing the ban on restricted substances has not been finalized, but is expected to be announced later this year.
For the most part, China’s legislation has a scope similar to the EU RoHS legislation. One significant difference, however, is that China has declared there will be no exemptions to the legislation. The EU has allowed certain industries, such as medical and telecommunications, exemptions from RoHS and has a process through which companies can apply for exemption under certain conditions. In China, every industry and product must comply.
California has current “RoHS” type restrictions in place but only for heavy metals and only for video display devices. The Electronic Waste Recycling Act (SB 20 / SB 50) mandates that retailers must collect a recycling fee and notify customers where they can dispose of electronic equipment.
Next year, restrictions will also be put in place on products being sold. The SB 20 / SB 50 legislation states that beginning January 1, 2007 "covered electronic devices cannot be sold in California if prohibited for sale in the EU under the EU RoHS Directive." Additionally, AB 2202 is pending that would extend CA ‘RoHS’ to the same product scope as EU RoHS.”
South Korea, Argentina, Australia, Japan and the U.S. are also working on legislation to restrict the use of hazardous substances in electronics. South Korea’s legislation, The Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical/Electronic Products and Automobiles, contains many of the same aspects as the RoHS and WEEE laws. It is scheduled to go into affect July 1, 2007 and outlines penalties, including one year in jail and fines up to $50,000 for violators.
Japan has had a law in place since 2000, the Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources, and also introduced an amendment to the law, scheduled to take affect July 1. The amendment adds the disclosure of six chemical substances (mercury, cadmium, lead, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE) across seven categories of electrical and electronic equipment, including personal computers and televisions.
Compliance management is a huge challenge
Simply put, as early as 2007 it will be virtually impossible to manufacture electronics or electronic components anywhere in the world without falling under the jurisdiction of at least one of these environmental regulations.
It will be difficult to track and understand the various regulations that apply, particularly for companies that do business throughout the world. The larger issue for companies however, is developing a strategy to enforce and track compliance.
Paul Tallentire, president of Newark InOne, a distributor of electronic components, stockroom management services and eProcurement solutions, recommends that “any company that buys or uses electronic components form a RoHS transition team, with representatives from cross-functional areas such as IT, procurement and legal. The team needs to keep up with the legislation itself, understanding how RoHS specifically impacts their company.”
Tallentire warns that even companies that fall under exempt categories in the RoHS legislation will most likely still find that the regulation impacts them as consumers. And an exemption in the EU is not necessarily an exemption in China or other countries, so it is also incumbent on the company to assure compliance internationally in all countries where they do business.
The EU Directive still has some areas of ambiguity regarding whether or not some equipment is covered by RoHS, and what constitutes equipment put in place after July 2006 versus repair or replacement parts for pre-RoHS equipment, which is exempt.
It is important to understand that, while the RoHS Directive applies to all countries within the EU, the methods of enforcement and penalties for violating RoHS are handled on a country-by-country basis.
Holly Evans of Technology Forecasters Inc. explains that the United Kingdom has outlined “due diligence” as a defense for RoHS compliance--a company must demonstrate that they took all reasonable steps to ensure RoHS compliance. “Although the UK does not prescribe a compliance methodology, it suggests the use of material declarations and component/material analysis to support a ‘due diligence’ finding,” Evans says.
The penalties associated with violating the mandates could result in products removed from the marketplace, fines and in the most drastic case, jail time.
Advises Newark InOne’s Tallentire, “A company should really concentrate on the business reasons for complying with RoHS: being able to manage its supply chain and staying competitive. A Federal RoHS-style law in the U.S. is inevitable. U.S. companies are wise to start their transition process now.”
| 4 ways to prepare for compliance Keep these key tasks in mind as you prepare for RoHS and other looming environmental legislation. 1. Create an inter-departmental compliance team 2. Develop a compliance strategy and timeline 3. Assess the supply-chain and validate compliance of suppliers 4. Perform sample testing and validation |
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RoHS and non-compliance: Expect to see penalties
One-stop WEEE shop aims to spark compliance competition
RoHS: The tip of the environmental iceberg
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