...Conservative MPs are piling pressure onto the Department of Trade and Industry to get to grips with Europe's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive....

...Dear Dr RoHS - We use SAVBIT solder to connect 0.05mm self fluxing enamelled wire to terminals in small transformers. If we use conventional solder the surface of the copper dissolves into the solder so the wire is "necked" just where it enters the joint, making the wire extremely fragile and easily damaged....

...The first looks inside Yonah and Presler reveal some interesting techniques regarding the manufacturing process...

...If one really thinks about it, management of the entire WEEE/RoHS process(and China RoHS and other stuff to come) is a daunting task. There are many records to keep and tasks to perform....

...With the deadline for implementation of the European Community's Directive on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) approaching fast on July 1, the electronics industry is grappling with the details associated with a complex transition to Lead(Pb)-Free1 and RoHS-Compatible2 manufacturing....

...Implementing the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive has not been without its trials, tribulations and delays over the past few years. Even before it takes effect in some EU countries, one of the biggest retailers of toiletries, medicines and small electrical appliances has run afoul of the rules and been fined 10,000 euros ($12,250)....

...Seminars, Webinars and Panel Discussions - Updated 29-Jan-06...

...Are we done yet? For companies producing electronic and electrical equipment, the answer is, unfortunately, no....

...Massachusetts Toxics Reduction Institute (TURI) will host "RoHS Compliance Planning and Strategies," on February 28, 2006, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., at the Wyndham Hotel in Westborough, Mass....

...Tighter regulation and lack of space is leaving officials with the mounting headache of how to deal with the UK's waste problem. According to figures, the country produces more than 400m tonnes of refuse a year - enough to fill the Albert Hall twice every hour....

...Companies will sell you their component compliance database; hold your hand through a consulting session on how to create the compliance team; talk to you about how to make the products in the company compliant. These are all great first steps to meeting the directive. But what happens when a product is selected for market analysis, and is actually audited for the six banned substances?...

...Last week, a group of authorized distributors, customers, component manufacturers, EMS providers, and OEMs gathered at NEDA's RoHS Summit to discuss the status of the industry six months before the July 1, 2006, RoHS deadline. One topic of concern that came up continuously was the call for distinct part numbers to ease confusion and increase accuracy....

...The Japanese electronic recycling system has been deemed a success thanks to partnership working and a bias towards getting results rather than saving money....

...Preston-based Recycling.co.uk has said that it wants to add manufacturer to its long list of activities, and begin reusing its own recyclable waste....

...RoHS is an expense for sure, but underneath the obvious downsides lie opportunities such as consulting and design services for the RoHS needy....

...More than Materials Declaration - Learn the basics for creating a roadmap for compliance at this 2 hour workshop. The workshop will be held at the Northwest Office Park on the Middlesex Turnpike in Burlington, MA....

...Big companies will be ready for the deadline. But that is not the case for small to mid-sized companies, some of which are due for a rude awakening when the deadline arrives....

...While complying with various RoHS directives and regulations may be proving problematic for the industry, the pain of reporting what is exactly in electronic products may soon be alleviated....

...Boots Retail (Ireland) has become the first company in Ireland and the EU to be prosecuted for offences under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations....

...The UK head of Dell has claimed that the PC and peripherals manufacturer is setting an example for others to follow by responsibly introducing recycling schemes for end-of-life kit - though he admitted customers are the ones picking up the bill....

...The Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Circuit Technology will take place at The White Swan, Arundel, UK on Tuesday 28 February 2006 beginning at 17:00. All members are welcome to attend. The seminar, which will follow the AGM will be concerned with the subject of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive....

...Whether by error or omission many European states have botched attempts to add new hazardous substance laws to their statute books, according to industry groups....

...While complying with various Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directives and regulations may be proving problematic for the industry, the pain of reporting what is exactly in electronic products may soon be alleviated....

...The IPC Certification for RoHS Lead-Free Electronics Assembly Process Capability Program is an in-depth audit program designed to examine electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to ensure that facilities are capable of producing product to meet the lead-free requirements of the EU's Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive....

...Farnell InOne is now offering nearly twice as many SKUs under the 'RoHS Trusted' BSI Kitemark when compared with its nearest competitor, says the company....

...This full day workshop will be taught by industry renowned experts Dr. Ronald Lasky, Indium Corporation of America/Dartmouth College and Timothy Jensen, Indium Corporation of America....

...Starting Feb. 9, new state hazardous waste rules will ban California residents from throwing most consumer electronics, batteries or mercury-containing products in the garbage....

...The Annual General Meeting of the Institute of Circuit Technology will begin at 17:00 and all members are welcome to attend. The seminar, which will follow the AGM will be concerned with the subject of the RoHS Directive....

...The Danish government is planning to bring the European Commission into justice for approving the use of the flame retardant deca-BDE, and the EU parliament supports....

...Judging by the number of e-mails Electronics Weekly receives each week, the legislation and timetables around the RoHS and WEEE Directives are still causing a lot of confusion. EW is inviting readers to raise issues related to the Directives, compliance and enforcement. Dr RoHS and a panel of experts will try to clarify issues and get to the bottom of problems you have brought to our attention....

...After more than 18 months of concerted effort supported by iNEMI and the IPC; the electronics industry will have a standard for materials declarations in support of the European Union's RoHS Directive and other regulations restricting the use of certain substances in electrical and electronic products....

...To aid the electronics assembly industry in its drive to lead free implementation, the IPC has created "IPC Certification for RoHS Lead Free Electronics Assembly Process Capability Program." . . . The program consists of 15 technical categories covering assembly-related issues such as equipment capability and compatibility, employee training, materials compatibility, component handling, materials declaration, and documentation procedures....

...RoHS and WEEE Specialists Ltd (RAWS) will undertake RoHS and WEEE training in February 2006 specifically targeted at New Zealand suppliers. The RoHS training is also suitable for mechanical engineers....

...TUV Rheinland of North America Inc. has unveiled a compliance label for companies that wish to certify that their products meet the RoHS directive. . . The labeling system is part of TUV Rheinland of North America's TWRS: "Total WEEE/RoHS Management Solutions," a new service for companies looking to ensure compatibility with the WEEE and RoHS directives....

...Canadian politicians are considering following the EU's lead in establishing electronic stewardship programs....

...The row between the EU Parliament and the Commission over the RoHS exemptions process has now boiled over in a legal action by Parliament, challenging the TAC Committee decision to add Deca-BDE to the exemptions list....

...A2 size wall mounting poster provides advice on PCB soldering techniques to the IPC-A-610C standard for Electronic Engineers and Production Engineers....

...The IPC, US group, Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) has highlighted results from its major research programme on lead-free solders related to voiding in solder joints....

...UC Irvine Extension has announced a new seminar, called Introduction to California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), for professionals and members of public agencies who are interested in an overview of CEQA and environmental planning in California....

...With the deadline only five months away, free webinar will consider approaches, risks, and benefits of product Exemptions and Out-of-Scope status in the electronics industry....

...To help its customers prepare for the up and coming RoHS Directive, an electronics company has developed an easy to use RoHS calendar guide....

...During its three-year, multi-million-dollar reliability study on lead-free solder, the IPC Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) found that solder voiding has no impact on solder joint reliability. This article highlights results of the study....

... Waste is a 'dirty' word in the eyes of the European Union, which is behind the imminent introduction of the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive....

...The UK has much to learn from Japan to effectively implement the EU WEEE (waste) Directive. Two delays and the current uncertainty over an introduction date in this country for the directive appears poor management at the very least when a country not even in the EU can arrange its own WEEE arrangements so effectively....

...A first-in-the-nation law went into effect Wednesday in Maine, requiring makers of televisions and computer monitors to pick up the tab to recycle and safely dispose of their products once they are discarded....

...There is really no denying that recycling and hazardous waste elimination initiatives will be the trend for the future. While many manufacturers are scrambling to meet the requirements of the WEEE and RoHS directives in the European Union (EU), this is just the tip of the iceberg....

...Mainstream and trade media news outlets are incorrectly reporting that all polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants are restricted for future use under the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive....

...Calumet Electronics Corporation has purchased Lantronic’s newest HASL System from ACS Technologies, Corp., North American Distributor, to enhance their RoHS Compliant lead-free printed circuit board manufacturing capabilities....

...A report by a UK Government-sponsored mission to China gives an upbeat picture of 'green manufacturing' awareness and practices in all organisations visited, including 'impressive' RoHS compliance procedures....

...Small-quantity electronic components and test equipment distributor Newark InOne is implementing a comprehensive quality assurance policy to help its customers mitigate compliance risks associated with the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive....

...Tom Perrett of Tin Technology pointed out this recent article by Design Chain Associates. It is "must" reading. The China RoHS law will require testing of the units and applies to the entire supply chain....

...As a countermeasure against the European Union's regulation to limit the amount of harmful components in electronics, China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) is moving fast to unleash its own rules this month....

...One such law that should be on the radar screen of all electronics companies is the emerging Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) directive, which aims to protect health and the environment. REACH has been something of a battle between business and environmentalists but was approved, though not finalized, by the EU in late 2005....

...Indium Corporation, US have designed and launched an online readiness assessment tool for use in measuring and benchmarking implementation processes...

...AFDEC and Intellect are combining to jointly host a conference to provide an update on the practical implementation of RoHS compliance for the U.K. electronics industry. The day-long event will take place on 16 February 2006 at the Marriott Hotel, Langley and will be followed by the regular AFDEC dinner at which Martin Kent, Chief Executive of the Abacus Group, will provide a keynote speech....

...The organisers of next month's Southern Manufacturing and Electronics Exhibition are expecting over 5,000 visitors at Surrey’s Thorpe Park on 8 and 9 February... Alan Brewin of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) Materials Centre, who together with a distinguished panel of industry authorities, will present a full programme of seminars covering many aspects of lead-free production....

...Are you RoHS Ready? Overview of the RoHS Directive including Timescales; How the RoHS Directive relates to UK Producers (Retailers!); Guidelines on how to demonstrate due diligence; Tips for Compliance...To celebrate our extended service offering in the UK, we are pleased to announce a free 1-day seminar for personnel involved in the retail sector on Tuesday 28th February....

...China is drawing a regulation to make producers of home appliances pay for the reclamation of used products, industry insiders said Thursday....

...Exel has launched a free newsletter to help brand owners, retailers and importers develop a greater understanding of the impending WEEE regulations....

...From January 1st, 2006 Germany-based Kontron's order system for board-level products will be converted to become RoHS-compliant on an order-related basis....

...The most recent list of RoHS exemption requests has been published for stakeholder consultation, for responses by 10th February 2006. The list includes more very specific products than previous rounds as producers begin to realise the true impact of the forthcoming July 2006 deadline....

...The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry intends to announce this month the postponement of the new China RoHS law by six months to January 1, 2007. However, the new legislation is likely to be more demanding than the EU RoHS directive....

...These proposed exemptions, on which the EC is now seeking public comment, have been submitted by a range of companies that are looking for very specific relief from RoHS and how the directive might affect them when it goes into effect July 1, 2006....

...EMSNow announces RoHS webinar on the impact of EU legislation on companies with exemptions/out of scope status. Free event will discuss the risks and benefits of various approaches to product exemptions and out-of-scope status in the electronics industry. Date: February 02, 2006; Time: 11:30am EST. 60 minutes; Featured Speaker: Dan Shea, Celestica CTO...

...It's a position AMR Research has long held, compliance is an opportunity for competitive advantage. A recent quote in the Wall Street Journal by Benjamin Heineman, Jr., GE’s former senior VP for law and public affairs, backs our comments: "law and regulation, ironically, can be market enhancing because then all regulated entities face the same obligations under the law and the smartest corporations will find a way to comply completely with imagination and less cost."...

...This year you will be forced to ask yourself the question: what environmental impact does my business have? According to statistics, 94% of small businesses believe the answer is nothing at all....

...When it comes to fully satisfying the requirements of the RoHS and WEEE Directives, the devil is in the detail as Paul Chinery, Managing Director of Dionics explains....

...SMTA is co-sponsoring a new full-day workshop with Technology Forecasters, Inc. (TFI) and The GoodBye Chain Group entitled "Design for Environment (DfE) - Tools and Techniques for the Electronics Industry"....

...The WEEE page on the Europa web site has a new stakeholder consultation that is open until 10 February 2006. It requests comments on 15 applications for RoHS exemptions. Contained in this, and in three previous consultations, are gems of information for those who would pursue an exemption as part of compliance....

...Soldertec Global announced that three Lead-free Solder Award winners have been selected from the nominations received from the industry....

...Businesses have been given extra breathing space to cope with new Euro rules governing the disposal of waste electric and electronic equipment. Birmingham-based expert Cathy Davies said that the Department of Trade and Industry had deferred the introduction of the new EU directive to review cost implications to firms....

...The UK’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) announced last week the deadline for the European Union’s (EU) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive will delayed beyond its June 2006 deadline, which was already extended beyond the original January 2006 deadline. A new deadline has not been set, but it will almost certainly stretch well beyond the previous June 2006 target date....

...Interphase Corporation, a leading international supplier of next-generation networking technologies, today announced that the company will deliver a comprehensive RoHS-compliant product portfolio ahead of the July 2006 deadline...

...Business worries over the EU directive on the recycling of waste electric and electronic equipment have delayed its launch in the UK. The DTI has announced a review of the cost implications to business of the WEEE directive, which lays out rules on reducing the impact on the environment from such items as fridges, televisions and PC monitors during their life times and when they become waste....

...The Chinese Ministry of Information Industry intends to announce this month the postponement of the new China RoHS law by six months to January 1, 2007. However, the new legislation is likely to be more demanding than the EU RoHS directive....

...According to Kinsus and PPt's schedule, prices will be up 5- 10 percent, which is mainly due to lead-free and high-end manufacturing....

...Multicore LF318 lead-free solder paste has now been successfully qualified by leading CEMs and OEMs such as Siemens....

...5-Trees LLC, a Burlington, MA start-up, is working with its customers to develop and implement corporate strategies focused on addressing RoHS as well as other quickly emerging world-wide environmental directives. Krista Botsford co-founded 5-Trees in May 2005 and currently leads the company’s compliance services activities....

...Advanced Circuits, the country's leading source for quick-turn printed circuit boards, today announced that all prototypes will now be fabricated using lead-free solder as a plating finish. The lead-free HAL finish provides an enhanced solderable finish for assembly and meets all legislation requirements for the European Union's RoHS Directive six months ahead of the July deadline....

...RoHS and Red Tape - Managing one supply chain is tough enough, but the advent of RoHS means that many companies will be dealing with two....

...The UK government will face legal action from Brussels over its failure to implement the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive....

...Knowing what to do with old PCs can be a real problem for small companies. While old computers should not be thrown out with the general rubbish, it can be difficult to know what exactly to do with them....

...RS (rswww.com), the leading distributor of electrical, electronic, health & safety, mechanical and IT products, has been awarded the BSI RoHS Trusted Kitemark, one of the first distributors in the UK to achieve this standard....

...I think many of us still "groan" when we think of WEEE/RoHS. However, as I have mentioned before, whenever there are radical changes, oppotunites abound....

...The Electronic Components, Assemblies and Materials (ECA) sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) recently released a statement on tin whiskers that offers tolerable sizes of tin whiskers while also stating the danger of lead in the environment outweighs the danger of tin whiskers. Engineers in the defense and aerospace industries, however, still insist that tin whiskers will become a significant problem if defense and aerospace manufacturers continue buying commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components once those components become RoHS compliant....

...The DTI is taking its next steps towards a fresh consultation over new rules for the collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment....

...The Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Thursday announced a new set of regulations governing designated laboratories in charge of inspection and testing of hazardous substances....

...Asahi Solder's Viromet lead-free alloy is selected by Takasago Corporation' space project for the alloy's superior performance after a vigorous evaluation and examination. The space project is in collaboration with University of Tokyo....

...Solectron recently announced that 85% of their capacity was now RoHS ready. I asked David Basset, their senior director for Environmental Compliance, to give me an insight into what this means for them and their customers....

...Park Electrochemical Corp. introduces a new N4000-29 180C Tg PCB substrate. This new advanced material system is currently available in North America and is planned to be available in Asia and Europe in the first calendar quarter of 2006....

...I have heard about a concern in the industry that energy consumption will increase significantly when manufacturing lead-free assemblies compared to standard tin-lead. How much of an issue is this going to be?...

...A special facility for the disposal of electrical and electronic waste is planned for Thailand to help local industries comply with a strict new European directive that takes effect this year....

...RS has been awarded the BSI RoHS Trusted Kitemark. Awarded through independent assessment on an ongoing basis, the BSI Kitemark is one of the best known and respected certification marks in the world and provides re-assurance that relevant requirements have been met or exceeded....

...Learn how a business process network ties in to the success of government mandate compliance and the 10 steps your company should take to accelerate business results....

...Two new Japanese standards publications have been announced for marking hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment....

...For U.S. environmentalists, 2005 will be remembered harshly, because it marked the clear and undeniable end of U.S. global environmental leadership. For three decades, the United States was the world's environmental trendsetter. But now leadership comes from the European Union, a phenomenon I observed firsthand last spring as a Fulbright scholar teaching comparative environmental law at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia....

...3M Electronics has announced its advanced laminate, embedded capacitor material is RoHS compliant. This material helps OEMs and PCB fabricators meet design requirements for space-constrained applications such as portable and military products....

...International law firm Allen & Overy LLP and AeA, an U.S. high-tech trade association, have launched EU Environmental Law Compliance, an online service designed to help companies comply with the EU's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directives....

...UK companies are being urged to take advantage of free advice to help prepare for the impending electronic waste (WEEE) legislation...Envirowise, the Government-sponsored programme, is offering help with ways to do this cheaply and effectively....

...In view of the elimination of lead, elvia PCB Group, which has considerable experience of Nickel-Gold and Chemical Silver finishes, is widening its range of metallic finishes to include Chemical Tin, OSP and lead-free Hot Air Levelling (from early 2006)....

...FCI has introduced its RoHS-compatible D-sub family of connectors to meet the European Directive EU 2002/95/EC. Both the Delta D series straight solder version and the press-fit version are available without the restricted materials as detailed in the directive, and the right-angle version will be available....

...Speedline Technologies experts will tackle one of the SMT industry's most critical manufacturing challenges - - the Lead Free Printing Process -- in a free, live webinar on Thursday, January 19, 2006. For more information, or to register, go to http://www.speedlinetech.com/seminars or call 1-508-541-4749....

... Categories 8 and 9 in the WEEE Directive covering medical, and monitoring and control equipment are currently excluded from the scope of the RoHS Directive but it is the intention of the European Commission to bring these categories within scope if possible. Dr Paul Goodman provides an overview of progress on the study being carried out by ERA for the EC to provide the data to establish if this is possible....