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Always happy to give the excellent ERA Technology (Cobham Technical Services) training seminars a plug.
Expert speakers and topical content is always guaranteed.
New RoHS, REACH, EuP and EMC courses have been announced and, if you only attend one conference between now and the end of the year, then it must be the "Electrical and Electronic Equipment and the Environment 2009" event at Heathrow in November.
Take a look at some of the events.
Directive Decoder
Many manufacturers seem uncertain as to what information should be contained in the obligatory "safe use" data that is required where a Substance of Very High Concern is present in an article.
The problem here is that the REACH regulations do not define any specific format.
The guidelines provide a checklist that could be used to decide what information may be required to forward to professional users. These include:
§ Exposure controls / personal protection
§ Handling and storage
§ Disposal consideration
§ Fire fighting measures
§ Transport information
However, simple things like the substance name, where it is used, why it is used, is it safe and why is it on the Candidate List would be a start?
Directive Decoder
China RoHS is currently running just under two years late. Requests for China RoHS certificates of compliance are not applicable, although European based companies that export to
Phase one of China RoHS was implemented on time in March 2007.
Here, over 1,800 Electronic Information Products, or EIP, had to be labelled based on whether or not they contained one of the six restricted substances (same as EU RoHS) at levels below the permitted homogeneous value (typically a green label) or above these values (orange label).
If it was a case of the latter then other information was required including an environmentally safe use period and a disclosure table highlighting toxic and hazardous substances and their location in the product, so as to aid safe recycling.
Phase two was to introduce the products that would be in scope, any exemptions, substance restrictions (option for even more than the EU six) compliance dates and testing and certification requirements.
It was due to enter into force at the end of 2007, then slipped to end 2008, then mid 2009 and now probably early next year.
So, regardless of slippage, if you export to
Directive Decoder
They say if you can't beat them, then join them!
You can now follow me on twitter for legislative discussions, polls, links to this site for the latest information and anything else you would like.
Follow me at (cut and paste this address) http://twitter.com/GaryNevison.
Directive Decoder
With the REACH impact on industry growing seemingly every day, Article 33 must be the most used phrase of all at the minute.
So just what does it refer to?
According to Article 33(1), any supplier of an article containing Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) on the Candidate List in concentrations exceeding 0.1% of the weight of the total article shall supply the recipients with sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use of the article.
As a minimum, the name of the SVHC shall be provided. Article 33(2) requires the same type of information to be forwarded to consumers upon their request.
Providing the name of the SVHC contained in the article is obligatory. In addition to the name, it is also obligatory to provide any information necessary to ensure safe use.
Important changes have been announced as part of the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics Reduction Act that entered into force in October 2007.
Under the
Manufacturers will need to provide some kind of certificate of compliance within the shipping container or on the product packaging and be ready to provide technical documentation, confirming compliance, if requested by the authorities.
General purpose lighting, allowing for certain exemptions, includes such as lamps, bulbs and tubes for example.
Directive Decoder
How many Passive Components will contain one of the 15 Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) included in the REACH Candidate List?
While not all passives will include SVHCs, some components, such as electrolytic capacitors do contain rubber parts.
These often have a seal made of a type of rubber that may contain one of the phthalates or a Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffin (SCCP).
Electrolytic capacitors also have a plastic label made of plasticised PVC which could also contain phthalates.
Any passive component could contain PVC wire insulation, rubber seals or be filled with flexible potting materials that could contain a phthalate or SCCP.
Inductors and choke coils are made with copper wire that has a lacquer coating. These lacquers may contain a plasticiser such as a phthalate.
Finally, potentiometers are made in many different designs and a few may have rubber seals that could contain a phthalate or SCCP.
Directive Decoder
Some Connectors are made of PVC that could be plasticised and some also have rubber seals or flexible adhesives that could contain phthalates.
Any others?.....please drop me a line.
Directive Decoder
Are you looking for a company to take care of disposal and / or recycling but don't know where to turn?
If it's WEEE, battery or lighting specialists, or simply obsolete products then click here for a total solution.
Directive Decoder
If your business needs to know the status of RoHS and / or WEEE in the various US States then click here.
Directive Decoder
Light emitting diodes or LEDs are increasingly used for lighting applications and in displays. This trend is due to research into brighter and more energy efficient devices that are able to compete with fluorescent lamps that contain small amounts of mercury. LED lighting is often used in homes, offices and also in vehicles. Several computer manufacturers now offer laptops with LED displays instead of the standard liquid crystal displays (LCDs). A few LED televisions have also been launched recently. LED displays are more energy efficient than LCDs in laptop PCs because they do not require the conversion of the standard laptop battery voltages to the high voltages required by LCD backlights. LED lighting is still not as energy efficient as fluorescent lighting but researchers expect to be able to attain higher efficiency in the near future.
The development of LED lighting will affect EU legislation in the future in a variety of ways:
This page contains all entries posted to Directive Decoder in August 2009. They are listed from oldest to newest.
July 2009 is the previous archive.
September 2009 is the next archive.
Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.
