... With the March 1 deadline for China RoHS compliance fast approaching, distributor Arrow Electronics Inc. said it is sponsoring a series of seminars and offering resources on its Web site to help steer customers through the maze of uncertainties. China RoHS, officially known as "Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products," is an environmental directive styled after the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances. The RoHS directive went into effect last July, placing stringent limits on the use of lead, mercury and other environmental contaminants in electronic products.... more...

...Recycling Electrical Producers' Consortium (REPIC) is offering local authorities free tailored waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance workshops.... more...

...Recycle 1st, the Greenstar official compliance scheme, is pleased to announce that it has been approved as a WEEE Compliance Scheme... more...

...The first details of how an allocation centre for civic amenity sites which handle waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) have been sketched out by an industry forum.... more...

...AlfaMag Electronics has excess stock of their SW Series inductors and TE Series 10/100 Base-T transformer modules, and their selling this stock at half the standard pricing.... more...

...ELFNET Norway has produced a short report on a survey of RoHS implementation in the Norwegian electronics industry, showing no major problems.... more...

...After a well-documented series of delays, the UK's WEEE legislation is finally upon us but with ignorance of the regulations still widespread in the UK and registration deadlines looming, Nigel Honeyman asks whether enough has been done to raise awareness?... more...

...Recycling Electrical Producers' Consortium (REPIC) is offering local authorities free tailored waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance workshops.... more...

...Most lead free solders for attachment or on-board solderability preservation contain silver. For every 1% of silver used in these alloys the material cost of the solder increases by 47%. As silver prices soar, so the cost of these solders will continue to increase.... more...

...NSAI today announced a suite of integrated training programs designed to work with clients to plan and implement a RoHS Compliance Assurance System (CAS) based on the European RoHS enforcement guidelines. Each training session will evaluate current processes to analyze the level of compliance, identify any gaps, and address how to manage your supply chain for RoHS compliance.... more...

...IPC/JEDEC has announced that it will hold the Lead Free Reliability and Reliability Testing for RoHS Lead Free Electronics conference from April 10 to 12 in Boston, MA. In addition to the technical program and exhibits, there will also be a day of workshops and educational sessions.... more...

...Japanese electronics manufacturers saw first-hand how MS2 Molten Solder Surfactant eliminates dross in the wave soldering process in demonstrations at the P. Kay Metal, Inc., booth at the NEPCON World Japan show in Tokyo recently.... more...

...The National Electronic Distributors Association's (NEDA) industry summit to discuss the latest environmental and trade issues facing our industry is slated for March 28 in Dallas. Expert speakers will present up-to-the-minute information on the effect of the March 1, 2007 China RoHS labeling regulations, the China, Korea and California RoHS initiatives and the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) directives. Attendees will have ample time for small group discussion on these critical mandates.... more...

...SEMI will host a live webcast to provide information specifically for manufacturers of semiconductor manufacturing and related equipment to help them comply with China RoHS, its related standards, and various guidelines issued by China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the lead agency responsible for the development and interpretation of China RoHS.... more...

...With the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive set to kick in, there should be a centre that allocates areas for Producer Compliance Schemes (PCSs) to work in.... more...

...Get ready for Canada's WEEE-like e-waste regulations, which are being rolled out across several provinces. The aim is to cut the amount of waste in landfills - annual disposal figures in Canada just for PCs add up to 4.5 tons of cadmium and 1.1 tons of mercury and 4,750 tons of lead for PCs and TVs - and to move the burden of disposal costs to producers.... more...

...The IPC 175X Materials Declaration Standard series has been updated to include recently approved EU RoHS exemptions.... more...

...The GoodBye Chain Group (GCG) is pleased to announce that its MDW/1752 database software has been named the winner of SMT Magazine’s 2007 Vision Award in the Software category. GCG received the award in recognition of product innovation and excellence... more...

...Electronics buyers who think their companies' products will automatically comply with China's new Restriction of Hazardous Substances law because their products already comply with the European Union's RoHS legislation are in for a big surprise.... more...

...At a time when companies are scrambling to comply with China RoHS Phase 1 requirements, GoodBye Chain Group (GCG) has discovered an issue of high importance in regard to China RoHS Phase 2: namely, the financially risky situation that many companies will be in if a) they have used substance exemptions for EU RoHS or delayed their RoHS-conversion because their Category 8 (medical) or Category 9 (monitoring and control) products were out of scope; b) China does not allow any substance exemptions in its forthcoming Catalogue; and c) China includes products in the Catalogue that have relied on EU substance exemptions or were out of scope.... more...

...Dag Andersson from IVF, Sweden has represented ELFNET in a WebTV interview launched today on the evertiq.com website. In the clip he highlights the fact that key lead-free soldering implementation issues still remain.... more...

...Visitors to Innov-X’s Booth 845 at the IPC Printed Circuits Expo-APEX & Designers Summit will learn how using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) can screen components, parts, cables and PCB’s for compliance with the European Union's RoHS Directives.... more...

...Chris Smith, the head of RoHS enforcement body National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML) in the UK, told Electronics Weekly that 99 per cent of UK products are meeting 99 per cent of the requirements since it came into action in July 2006.... more...

...ICP Electronics, a leading Taiwan-based maker of industrial PCs (IPCs), saw its revenues mainly growing since the company's transformation of its production processes to ensure compliance with European Union's RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive. For January, ICP posted revenues growing 48.7% on year and 2.8% on month.... more...

...China RoHS labels come in seven different styles including six standard formats with commonly requested environmentally friendly use period (EFUP) numbers.... more...

...With RoHS now in full swing, there is growing demand for screening tools to check compliance. Hand-held, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) has emerged as the tool of choice for this task. XRF units are simple to use, easily portable and very effective. One example in this category is the recently updated, X-MET3000TXR+ by Oxford Instruments.... more...

...The restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS) directive is working, it has been claimed, with 99 per cent of products being compliant with the regulations.... more...

...The majority of UK firms are complying with the RoHS Directive and firms have so far escaped prosecutions, but only just in some cases.... more...

...VJ Electronix acquired Precision Manufacturing Tools (PMT), the SMT rework division of Prodev, Inc., of Seabrook, N.H. VJ Electronix will move manufacturing, primary engineering, and customer support for PMT models to its Littleton facility, which is being updated to support the capacity increase.... more...

...IPC and CPCA are pleased to announce an International Conference: IPC-4101 Lead Free and High Performance Base Materials (CCL) The conference will be held March 20, 2007 in Shanghai China. It is anticipated that 200 technical experts in the PCB field will attend this conference.... more...

...IPC is circulating for vote a new revision of IPC 7525 "Stencil Printing Guidelines" that will include modifications for printing Pb-free pastes.... more...

...Michael Kirschner, President of Design Chain Associates, explains how to prepare for China RoHS, how it differs from European RoHS and the chance for a North American RoHS.... more...

...The COST 531 network has launched the SURDAT database - a downloadable tool with surface tension, density and molar volume for pure metals, binary and multicomponent lead-free alloys.... more...

...India should restrain from giving a thumbs-up to the electronics sector, which generates waste leading to contamination of groundwater and rivers, leading global organisation Greenpeace warned Thursday.... more...

...Manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment will continue to face additional environmental restrictions as 2007 progresses. While the European Union and South Korea are due to enact new environmental regulations later this year, one of the most significant sets of "green" regulations is upon our heals as the first phase of China's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) goes into effect March 1, 2007.... more...

...IPC and CPCA will hold an International Conference: IPC-4101 Lead Free and High Performance Base Materials (CCL) on March 20, 2007 in Shanghai China.... more...

...The "cast" of Crosstalk includes Steve Williams of Plexus, Dan Beaulieu of D.B. Management and Steve Gold of I-CONNECT007. Crosstalk is a program where an EMS supply chain manager, a PCB fabricator consultant and a magazine editor discuss what's new in the industry, what needs to change, and what never seems to change in our industry.... more...

...Help is available for manufacturers and suppliers feverishly working to meet China's Ministry of Information Industry's new RoHS Initiative's Phase I deadline on March 1, 2007.... more...

...RoHS-International Ltd has released a technical discussion paper on the China RoHS Environmental Friendly Use Period. This paper addresses the issue of whether the EFUP is based on just the 6 RoHS Substances and elements or whether it is based on the product as a whole.... more...

...Pentagon 2000 Software, Inc. announced today that it has incorporated features that will allow customers to track their compliance with EU directive 2002/95/EC, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS). This module is available to all customers and can be incorporated into their systems via upgrade.... more...

...Manufacturers and importers of electronic products are being reminded that they will have to join a compliance scheme to comply with new recycling regulations.... more...

...China's version of the RoHS - Restriction of use of Certain Hazardous Substances - Directive differs widely from the European legislation, and complete definitions of products that are in scope do not yet exist.... more...

...Photo Stencil will present a paper and exhibit at the upcoming IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX and Designers Summit. The conference is at the Los Angeles Convention centre in Los Angeles, California, from 18th to 22nd February 2007. Dr Bill Coleman, Vice President of Technology, will present 'Lead-free intrusive reflow', an alternative to lead-free wave soldering.... more...

...WeeeCare has become the first WEEE compliance scheme to win an EA licence for the administration of far-reaching new recycling regulations. Since the gates opened on the 2nd January 2007 for companies to apply for the EA's compliance to run WEEE removal schemes, several contenders have stepped forward. However, WeeeCare has been the first company to succeed in getting the backing of the EA.... more...

...As I write, 284 letters have been sent to the EU in support of exemption request 15 under round 6 of stakeholder public consultation. That proposal dates to last May, when I requested all lead in solder for the purposes of electrical interconnection be exempted from RoHS because the "replacements" pose a much greater environmental burden.... more...

...This is the first in a three-part series on the lingering difficulties of complying with RoHS.... more...

...The UK Environment Agency formally approved a Producer Compliance Scheme offered by Environ, a UK-based consulting group, the company said today.... more...

...Concerns are mounting that businesses in the UK may be unprepared for the upcoming waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations, due to confusion over details.... more...

...The Green Party has claimed Microsoft's latest operating system, Vista, could lead to a mass upgrade of PCs that will result in old machines being dumped in landfill sites.... more...

...OEMs with low- to medium-volume installed user bases may find limited options for repair support. This article looks at common issues and the strategies a repair-depot supplier can use to address issues that OEMs face.... more...

...The Southern Electronics and Manufacturing Exhibition's program of free seminars in the U.K. has a strong focus on environmental legislation this year. The issue is so important that the seminar "Developments in RoHS legislation worldwide, focusing in particular on China," by Dr. Paul Goodman and Chris Robertson from ERA Technology, is being run twice.... more...

...Finding a new type of solder for semiconductor assembly not as easy as it sounds. One downside of the technology boom has always been the use of hazardous chemicals in the making of electronic products. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directive was created in order to tackle just this issue.... more...

...China RoHS is significantly different from EU RoHS, however there is great leverage that can be gained. The 6 hazardous substances are the same, as are the Maximum Concentration values in most cases. This means that there is a good deal of leverage that be gained from the EU RoHS Certificates of compliance, but there are still traps for the unwary regarding some EU exemptions.... more...

...EMT continues to expand its laboratory testing services by recently adding JIG Annex A and Annex B parameters to its portfolio of analytical capabilities, which includes EU RoHS, WEEE, ELV, California Prop. 65 and others. EMT is also preparing for global environmental directives such as China RoHS and California AB 48 and continues to investigate new parameters.... more...

...I am the Process Engineer at a small contract electronics firm and I could use some help. I have been asked to find out what kinds of problems might arise from washing lead free boards in our wash line that is used every day to wash products containing tin lead solder? Is this recommended or approved as a safe practice?... more...

...Photo Stencil, the leading provider of premium stencils and additional high-end tooling for the SMT assembly industry, will present a paper and exhibit at the upcoming IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX and Designers Summit. The conference is at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, February 1822, 2007.... more...