Tough new RoHS rules in Norway will hit electronics suppliers with gallium arsenide (GaAs) likely to be on the restricted list.

Norway intends to prohibit 18 substances from consumer goods under new legislation which is much wider than the RoHS rules on hazardous substances which apply across the rest of Europe.

Of the 18 substances only lead and cadmium are in common with RoHS rules.

“The substances that are of relevance to the electrical and electronic industry include arsenic (gallium arsenide devices) various flame retardants, PVC plasticisers (added to a plastic material to soften it and improve flexibility), monomers used for polycarbonate, lead and cadmium (any consumer product not covered by RoHS excluding medical devices),” said Gary Nevison support manager for environmental affairs at Farnell.

Called the Prohibition on Certain Hazardous Substances in Consumer Products this could well be referred to as PoHS due to the passing resemblance to RoHS.

The legislation will only apply to Norway but already there appears to be limited choices for companies exporting to Europe.

“Companies selling into Norway may well have to resource many, if not all certificates of compliance unless they adopted an IPC1752 compliant database in the first place and were able to source the data,” said Nevison.

The Norwegian proposal is currently the subject of public consultation. However, it is scheduled to be adopted on December 15 2007 and to come into force on January 1 2008.