November 29,
2006
Supplier
Summit Confronts Status of RoHS Conversion
The
electronic industry’s supply chain is still struggling with the conversion to
lead-free products that comply with the European Union’s (EU) RoHS, some five
months after the directive’s deadline. The industry is also having to gear up
to meet the further demands of China’s RoHS which comes with a March 2007
deadline that includes demanding labeling requirements. Newark In-One, the
Chicago-based distributor of small-quantity components and test equipment, has
worked to spread information about the status of EU RoHS compliance and
preparations for the China RoHS.
In
its effort to confront the impact of environmental compliance laws, Newark
In-One brought together suppliers – including the company’s most strategic
vendors – to discuss the impact of the EU’s RoHS and the upcoming China RoHS.
The summit also included executives from Newark In-One’s UK-based parent
company, the global distributor, Premier Farnell.
The
supplier summit involved a number of topics related to environmental
compliance. For one, Newark InOne executives shared results from a survey of
1,000 of its customers and suppliers. The report shows that the level of
conversion to RoHS compliance depends on the industrial sector. “The country is
about half in transition and half not. The rate of transition is different
depending on the sector,” says Paul Tallentire, CEO of Newark InOne. “For
military and defense, the transition is about 10 percent. For Industrial it’s
35 percent, and for consumer products it’s 65 to 70 percent.” He notes there
was a general consensus that there will be further gradual transition over the
next couple years.
Tallentire
also notes that customers want to know the RoHS status of parts. “There is a
demand for RoHS information. Customers want to know the component is RoHS, and
they want to confirm that the product hasn’t changed,” says Tallentire. “And
we’re getting requests for the material breakdown of products, predominantly
from large companies and from the defense sector.” He notes, however, that
suppliers have been slow to provide material content data in a standardized
format. “One of the problems is that there is no materials declaration standard
that has been universally accepted, so the information comes in different
formats.”
One
of the main purposes of the supplier summit was to discuss the coming China
RoHS legislation. China RoHS is similar to the EU directive with a few key
differences. For one, all “electronic information products” must be labeled
with specific environmental information. Newark InOne characterized the
labeling requirements as “potentially onerous,” calling for pollution control
symbols, environmental use period, separate packaging information and a table
of restricted substances.
The
exempt products have not been clearly spelled out, but indications from early
drafts of the law suggest there will be fewer exemptions in China’s law than
the EU provides. Another major difference is that all products shipped into
China will be inspected at a Chinese lab. Currently only 18 labs have been
approved, but more are expected to come online in the coming year. Executives
in the electronics industry have expressed worries over the safety of
intellectual property when products are dissembled and examined in a Chinese
lab.
Newark
InOne spent some of the supplier summit explaining its planned tactics to help
customers grapple with China RoHS. For one, the distributor will launch a
Mandarin-language website in early 2007. “We’re launching a Chinese language
website because we intend to lead in products going into the Chinese market,”
explains Tallentire.
The
company also intends to produce a Mandarin-language catalog in China concurrent
with the March 2007 effective data for the law. Harriet Green, chief executive
of Premier Farnell, notes “20,000 of the products in this catalog will be
locally stocked, with the rest available on short lead times.”
As
a final note, Tallentire notes there was a general consensus among suppliers
that there is a need for a federal law in the United States regarding
environmental compliance. With more that two dozen states producing
environmental legislation that affects electronic products, a federal RoHS is
needed to ward off the very real possibility of conflicting state laws that
make it impossible to create one product that would be complaint in all U.S.
states. “There is only one economy in the world without its own legislation,”
says Tallentire. “China RoHS may be the tipping point that brings about federal
legislation in the U.S.”
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