Electronics markets in Europe and Asia Pacific are moving to control the level of hazardous substances such as lead and mercury in products, but the US market still seems reluctant to jump on the RoHS bandwagon.   

Europe's RoHS rules came into force this summer and China will follow suit next March, but the end product markets in the US seems to be adopting a piecemeal approach to RoHS legislation.   

The latest note of concern about the level of RoHS activity in the US has come from Newark InOne, the US subsidiary of distributor Premier Farnell, which has issued a warning about the need for a RoHS-like law in the US.

“A huge chunk of the world is moving the same way [to RoHS] and the US is moving the same way piecemeal, state by state,” Premier Farnell general council Steven Webb told EW.

“If there was a single Federal approach that would make trading in the US less complex. And less complexity equals less cost,” said Webb.

Given that the US is notoriously reluctant to pick up legislation from other nations, does Webb think it will listen?

“The reality is that even if RoHS does not apply in the US, many companies are switching to compliant parts for Europe and it does not make sense to make two versions,” he said.

“And Chinese ‘RoHS’ comes in March next year and it is fundamentally the same as RoHS,” added Webb.

See also: Electronics Weekly's RoHS Directive and UK RoHS regulation, a roundup of content related to the RoHS Directive.