What's next on the environmental front: new priorities must be defined and industry must proactively drive for harmonized regulatory standards.

Ed.: For the complete article please visit circuitsassembly.com/cms/content/view/3516/

The RoHS Directive goes into effect in the EU this month. Last month's column demonstrated that industry, for the most part, is ready. However, much work remains to be done to reduce the ongoing costs of maintaining RoHS compliance, address additional legislation and changing regulations around the world, and complete and optimize the conversion from eutectic solder. This month, we focus what is ahead, and the alternative directions that industry could take. The thrust of our argument is that industry should take a proactive approach, work with stakeholders and direct activities where there is technical/ecological evidence we could and should be doing a better job to protect the environment. We should involve stakeholders in the process of evaluating alternative technologies to determine tradeoffs between product functionality, environmental impact, reliability, safety and cost. We will give an example of the model we recommend for working with stakeholders and discuss areas that warrant attention.

iNEMI's 2004 Environmentally Conscious Electronics roadmap emphasized the concept of "sustainability," the impact of European legislation on the entire supply chain and the R & D needs to support environmentally conscious design. This approach reflects a more forward-looking posture and relates to developing a sound scientific basis for environmental considerations. Specific findings/needs identified by the roadmap included:

* Development and implementation of appropriate scientific methodologies to assess true environmental impacts of materials and potential tradeoffs of alternatives.

* Development of cost-effective, energy-efficient power supplies.

* Development of a common, meaningful, straightforward definition of sustainability that is relevant to the electronics industry and its supply chain, can be applied quantitatively at the business level, can be easily communicated to stakeholders, can be used to set targets and that encourages an integrated lifecycle sustainability strategy.

Even as industry adapts to the long-anticipated, well-advertised challenges of European WEEE and RoHS laws, an unprecedented expansion of legislative initiatives is underway. To some degree, this next wave of product-based environmental regulations represents the globalization of WEEE/RoHS requirements; however, it also introduces additional labeling, eco-design, energy efficiency and certification mandates. Legislation such as EuP (Energy using Products Directive), REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and the updated Batteries Directive will keep a certain focus on Europe. Going forward, drivers may come from any region of the world.

Table 1 (online) is an overview of four primary categories of product-based legislation across the globe. Although not inclusive of all legislative activity, there is a clear trend of increasing regulatory complexity--without much time for industry to catch its breath from WEEE and RoHS. The state/provincial-level legislative activities in the U.S. and Canada are particularly problematic due to the diversity of regulatory approaches. Such diversity runs counter to the theme of harmonization, which industry must promote to permit efficient and effective adoption of worldwide requirements. When coupled with ongoing activities in China, Japan, Australia, Mexico and South America, industry may be put in a position of allocating greater-than-anticipated resources to deal with the inherent inefficiency of non-harmonized requirements. Broader participation in trade associations and standards bodies can help promote stakeholder approaches and improve worldwide harmonization of product-based requirements.

The following sections (online) discuss how industry might proactively address substance concerns, energy usage and design restrictions.

Joe Johnson is senior manager for Regulatory Affairs at Cisco Systems (cisco.com), chair of iNEMI's Environmentally Conscious Electronics Technology Integration Group and co-chair of the ECE Technology Working Group for the iNEMI Roadmap; [e-mail]. Bob Pfahl is vice president of operations for iNEMI (inemi.org); [e-mail].