Happy New Year to you all
2008 will witness the beginning of a significant period of green development that will impact our industry for years to come.
Among those of greatest importance during 2008:
• The first wave of implementing measures from the European Union (EU) Energy using Products (EuP) Directive requiring the reduction in energy consumption across a broad range of product categories.
• The EU REACH Regulations will kick into gear with a pre-registration period during the second half of the year and subsequent registration deadlines as the EU seeks greater control over the handling and use of many harmful substances.
• The results will be published following the first EU review of scope of the RoHS Directive. This is almost certain to lead to a broader product scope with the inclusion of categories 8 and 9 (medical and monitoring & control instrumentation) as well as any additional products that may result from the clarity on definitions such as a “fixed installation” and “spare” parts. It is also possible that further substances maybe restricted, in particular certain flame retardants.
• The end of the year is also likely to see the first token products in the China RoHS (Phase 2) catalogue. This will contain information on restricted substances, implementation dates, exemptions, testing requirements and certification.
With RoHS-like legislation evolving in places such as Korea, Australia, Thailand and the US, 2008 is likely to be the most significant year yet for the greener world.
Directive Decoder
Gary Nevison, Head of Legislation at