The Electronics Source Book
October 5, 2005
Do you know which green laws may alter the way you do business? Most of the coverage of environmental laws affecting the electronics industry has focused on two directives from the European Union, the Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). While these laws are seriously changing the make-up of components, they are not the only environmental laws that will put demands on the electronics industry.
So far, 21 states are moving environmental regulations through their legislative bodies. The RoHS site at electronic distributor Newark InOne posts a spreadsheet showing the pending legislation state-by-state: www.newark.com/services/rohs/documents/Ewaste_Legislation.xls
In addition to state regulations, there are also laws cropping up in Japan and China. While some of the regulations are voluntary, they are slowly making their way through government bodies to become real laws with real consequences. In U.S. states and foreign governments, the goal is to make the consequences of non-compliance more costly than the price of compliance.
On the hard end, the consequences are penalties, fines and banned products. Sony has already felt the financial sting of banned products when its PlayStation was ousted from The Netherlands in October 2001 because there was cadmium in its cables. The products were pulled from the shelves two months before the holiday shopping season. I2 Technologies estimates the total cost of the blunder at $100M Euros.
I2 Technologies also expects there will be soft pressure to comply in the form of market preferences. With all things being equal, consumers will typically choose the more environmentally friendly product. This theory was evident when Panasonic’s market share for its mini-disk player increased by 11 percent after it was manufactured and marketed as lead-free.
In case some companies think they can pull a fast one on compliance, it’s sobering to note that The Netherlands government was tipped to the cadmium by a Sony competitor. Clearly the market will be the government’s best friend when it comes to policing compliance.
Much of the state legislation coming down the pike focuses specifically on the waste end of the substances problem. Rather than restricting what goes into the components, the regulations force the manufacturer (usually identified as the brand owner) to accommodate safe disposal of the product at the end of its life.
One of the better known pieces of non-RoHS legislation comes from California. On September 24, 2003, the governor of California signed into law the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003. The key elements include:
While awareness of environmental regulations is growing in the United States, the same can’t be said for all areas of the world. Manufacturers in China complain that their component suppliers are unaware of pending laws and thus have not made appropriate progress in converting to lead-free versions of their components. This neglect is occurring even as China’s government prepares its own legislation to match RoHS and WEEE.
So far, the there are no profound differences in calls for eliminating substances in components. Most of the differences between the European Union’s directives and state and foreign government regulations are on the waste and recovery side. This may change. Rumors persist that some governments are considering adding to the RoHS list of unacceptable substances in components.
Analysts at i2 Technologies believe we’re just getting started on government regulations on the electronics industry. They predict new legislation will continue to be produced over the coming ten years. They believe government regulations have become a permanent part of doing business in the electronics industry, and while innovation used to be the main market mover, regulation has now taken its place as a force that will change the market.
1. iNEMI
releases standards for RoHS transition
2. Getting parts
around the world
3. Global logistics: every part to its right place
4. Environmental
regulations become patchwork nightmare
5. Finding
leaded parts after the RoHS deadline
6. What
happens to leaded parts after RoHS
7. Engineering
jobs are migrating globally
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