...Consumers are being encouraged to donate their old PCs to charity in a bid to help supply computers to communities in developing countries.... more...

...K100LD is a patent-pending, low-cost alternative to traditional lead-free alloys. The bar solder offers the lowest copper dissolution of any lead-free bar on the market, even amongst all common alloys, including Sn63, SAC305 and other lead-free options.... more...

...Oxford Instruments has launched a new fast, lightweight, hand-held XRF analyser. With one pull of the trigger, the X MET3000TXR+ delivers faster than ever color coded pass/fail analysis for RoHS compliance testing as well as a detailed quantitative analysis of the sample composition.... more...

...Now that the July 1, 2006, European Union (EU) RoHS deadline has come and gone, the electronics industry is left looking back - trying to determine the impact that this legislation has had on our industry.... more...

...The Environment Agency looks set to formally approve the first batch of Producer Compliance Schemes under the WEEE Regulations in the next few days.... more...

...ITM Consulting is pleased to announce that Burton Industries has received ITM Process Certification(R) and ITM Lead-Free Capability Certification for their Ironwood, Michigan SMT assembly facility.... more...

...IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries(R) has issued a call for participation for the inaugural event of IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition, September 25-28, 2007, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, Schaumburg, Ill.... more...

...New waste electronics regulations at both a British and European level are too weak to encourage producers to design out waste, a major manufacturer said today.... more...

...EPCOS offers an online service to help comply with the requirements of the Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products (ACPEIP), or China RoHS. The company offers a downloadable Excel table, which indicates which of the six substances are contained in products.... more...

...At last, the federal government is truly getting involved in environmental policies. AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) trade association reported in its monthly newsletter that Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), who is slated to take over the top spot in the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, has in the past promoted federal legislation that would ban some hazardous materials.... more...

...Panasonic, the leading global manufacturer of consumer electronics, has announced that it will showcase its range of lead-free Plasma Display Panels (PDP), the central picture component of plasma TV's and modules, at ENVIRONMENT 2007, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region's leading environmental exhibition and conference, that will be held from January 28-31, at the Abu Dhabi International Exhibition Center.... more...

...On February 28, 2006, China publishes its new law entitled "Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products" (ACPEIP), often referred to as the "China RoHS" because, as far as the prohibition of substances is concerned, it does have similarities to the EU RoHS-directive.... more...

...The impact of the impending waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) Directive on local authorities is the focus of London Remade's first local authority network meeting in 2007, on February 26.... more...

...AeA (formerly American Electronics Association) has stated that a US federal RoHS Bill is likely as part of the 2007 Environment Policy of the Democrats.... more...

...Global shipping company DHL will hold a series of seminars throughout the UK, including one in Cardiff in February, to help businesses get to grips with the new waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) legislation introduced earlier this month.... more...

...Oxford Instruments has launched a new fast, lightweight, hand-held XRF analyser. With one pull of the trigger, the X MET3000TXR+ delivers faster than ever color coded pass/fail analysis for RoHS compliance testing as well as a detailed quantitative analysis of the sample composition.... more...

...At a time when companies are under increasing pressure from EU RoHS and from the pre-market testing requirement of China RoHS Phase 2, PartMiner Information Services, Inc., a leading Interactive Content and Commerce solutions provider for electronic components, today announced that it has entered into a reseller agreement with The GoodBye Chain Group LLC (GCG) to include its Material Declarations Wizard, MDW/1752, application in PartMiner’s CAPS(TM) family of products.... more...

...REPIC, the Recycling Electrical Producers' Consortium, has released its first dates for members to attend tailored WEEE Compliance workshop sessions. The workshops, on 29th January and 2nd February respectively, have been designed to examine in detail how the WEEE Directive will impact on daily operations as well as providing all attendees with the latest guidance on producer obligations.... more...

...CCI announces the addition of CCI RoHS Solutions which will utilize state-of-the-art x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and enhanced magnification technology to ensure full due diligence RoHS testing for our customers, vendors, and outside clients.... more...

...The introduction of RoHS legislation in China on 1 March 2007 will mark a new chapter in the RoHS age. There are several differences between the European and the Chinese approach to this matter.... more...

...IPC has joined forces with Soldertec Global to provide viable solutions to lead free quandaries by hosting an International Conference on Lead Free Components Reliability.... more...

...The presence of hazardous substances in E and E products is becoming more and more of an issue.... more...

...Eurocircuits.com online printed circuit board manufacturers have announced the completion of a new automatic electroless nickel-gold line to meet increasing demand for this popular RoHS-compliant surface finish. In a user-survey more than 55% of customers preferred electroless nickel-gold to electroless silver or HAL.... more...

...Environmental issues, such as the restriction on hazardous substances (RoHS), are affecting the pro AV industry from manufacturing to installation. In the case of one AV supplier, red circuit boards signify the company’s commitment to "going green."... more...

...With the holiday madness for electronics over, many of us now have no idea what to do with our old, forlorn TVs and computers replaced by the latest models. These machines, may have been the hottest on the market just two years ago, but now they're just so much junk, part of the at least 22 million tons of electronic waste (or e-waste) produced globally each year.... more...

...This paper presents results of an ongoing formal Pb-free activity (planned in 2000 and begun in 2001) with which we have been involved. Most Pb-free studies involve test vehicle designs that are not typically representative of real-world printed circuit board assemblies.... more...

...IPC has joined forces with Soldertec Global to provide viable solutions to lead free quandaries by hosting an International Conference on Lead Free Components Reliability, February 28, 2007, in San Sebastian, Spain.... more...

... The SMTA-produced International Conference on Soldering and Reliability will be held April 17-19 in Toronto.... more...

...The overwhelming success of the seminar in early September has prompted Trace Laboratories to schedule two additional RoHS/Lead Free seminars with Dr. Jennie Hwang. The seminars will be held on January 9, 2007 at Trace's Palatine, IL facility and January 23, 2007 at Trace's Hunt Valley, MD facility.... more...

...The "China RoHS" clock is ticking. It could be a time bomb that blows up portions of your business or a timely bonanza that drives up revenue. The difference will depend on how seriously you, your customers and your competitors take China RoHS. Rather than re-hashing well-publicized China RoHS requirements, the purpose of this article is to address under-reported aspects of the law, e.g. regulatory clarifications, operational recommendations and likely 2007 key trends.... more...

...Solectron Corporation, a leading provider of electronics manufacturing and integrated supply chain services, will present a Web seminar on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007 at 11 a.m. ET/ 8 a.m. PT. The Web seminar will discuss what medical device companies need to consider in evaluating their position relative to the current European Union RoHS directive, as well as the forthcoming China RoHS mandate.... more...

...Ageus Solutions, a leader in global environmental compliance services, has expanded their services to offer comprehensive and structured expertise to help clients meet emerging US and Canadian requirements.... more...

...A Special Issue of the Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, focussing on lead-free soldering will be available in March 2007 from Springer Netherlands.... more...

... The convergence of global markets could signal the end of market-specific laws relating to the substances used in products, with manufacturers the world over keeping one eye on EU standards. EU directives regulating the presence of chemicals in major product categories have had significant extraterritorial effect, including in the US.... more...

...This is a good news-bad news post. The headline is obviously the bad news. From Tierramerica (a cool site for green policy wonks) we learn from Stephen Leahy that "Cellular telephones that contain toxic chemicals are still being sold in Latin America and other developing regions. But thanks to strict European regulations, there are progressively fewer phones being made with cadmium, lead and other dangerous materials."... more...

...One of our industry's latest challenges is transitioning to lead-free assemblies. This column focuses on laminate materials and reliability issues for lead-free products.... more...

...Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), slated to take over the top spot in the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials, has already promoted federal legislation that mirrors parts of California's Electronic Waste Recycling Act (California Restriction on Hazardous Substances-RoHS), which as of January 1, 2007, will ban the sale of some electronic devices that contain certain hazardous substances.... more...

...While provision for the recycling of WEEE from private households will be met largely through CA site-based collection points, "businesses and other non-household users of EEE" look likely to only have limited responsibilities imposed on them under the regulations.... more...

...On the 3rd January 2007, B2B Compliance, the UK's largest WEEE Producer Compliance Scheme, became the first Producer-led scheme to submit its application for approval to the Environment Agency.... more...

...Cellular telephones that contain toxic chemicals are still being sold in Latin America and other developing regions. But thanks to strict European regulations, there are progressively fewer phones being made with cadmium, lead and other dangerous materials... more...

...Strengthening European Union policies on electronic and chemical waste will reverberate around the world, according to two academic experts examining the issue.... more...

...After years with thousands of seminars, workshops and conferences around the electronics world including predictions and warnings about the consequences of the lead ban, we have now, 6 months after the implementation of the RoHS directive, reached the point where many companies with high quality electronic products realise that transferring to lead free soldering production will not necessarily be a piece of cake.... more...

...Key Recycling calls for businesses and local authorities to take a proactive stance to the WEEE regulations, and see beyond the need to comply.... more...

...This article highlights key discussions from a recent compliance with Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Regulations event in Singapore.... more...

...The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) issued emergency regulations on December 22, 2006 to restrict allowable concentrations of lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium in eight categories of video display electronics devices. [free registration required]... more...

...In the benchmarking study Gauging Environmental Preparedness and Recommendations for Best Practices (by Technology Forecasters Inc., December 2006), approximately half of the electronic-product companies' surveyed are converting or plan to convert the leads of some lead (Pb) components to Pb-free, and/or from Pb-free to Pb--to make use of available components.... more...

...After years with thousands of seminars, workshops and conferences around the electronics world including predictions and warnings about the consequences of the lead ban, we have now, 6 months after the implementation of the RoHS directive, reached the point where many companies with high quality electronic products realise that transferring to lead free soldering production will not necessarily be a piece of cake.... more...

...Fulfilling the obligations set out in the new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations is a "complex task", it has been claimed.... more...

...Got HIPAA and SOX under control? Get ready for environmental issues, which are looming on the horizon as another big financial and logistical headache for storage managers and CIOs. . . . Last week, for example, California's version of RoHS, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act (EWRA), came into force.... more...

...Channel players confused about their responsibilities under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive can attend free seminars being held later this month and throughout February by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).... more...

...The Environmental Authorities proposes a General Ban on Mercury in Products. The proposal will prohibit mercury in switches and relays, used as chemical in analysis, in measuring devices and as dental amalgam.... more...

...The Artic Oven is a low-cost surface-mount reflow oven for prototype SMD reflow that is capable of reaching temperatures above 270C as necessary for lead-free reflow operations.... more...

...Democrats are likely to consider a federal RoHS bill... more...

...Design Chain Associates will be holding a webinar on the impact of China RoHS to the electronics industry, as well as about everything that a manufacturer needs to know to comply with the March 1, 2007, deadline for the first phase of China RoHS.... more...

...Just when you thought Restriction of Hazardous Substances compliance was much ado about nothing, there’s some new technical turmoil we need to brace for in 2007. No, it’s not the slew of new environmental copycat legislation. In the U.S., several states will enact new RoHS legislation.... more...

...In advance of the March 1st 2007 China RoHS deadline, several activities have been launched to prepare industry for compliance.... more...

...Congress should enact a Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) law to create a single compliance standard for all U.S. states, according to a three-month on-line poll of engineers and purchasers conducted by catalog distributor Newark InOne... more...

...In July 2006 the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive came into effect. Labeling issues, exemption questions, materials declaration, part number changes and compliance processes all presented problems in the logistic industry’s first major step toward better environmental procedures.... more...

...The implementation of China's equivalent to the RoHS Directive, which was adopted on February 28, 2006, will enter into force on March 1, 2007 to help eliminate e-waste. This new guideline requires several standards and further regulatory measures, like a standard on 'Concentration Limits' of hazardous substances; a standard on 'Marking' to indicate the presence of hazardous substances, as well as a safe-to-use period and the packaging material; a standard on 'Testing Procedures'; and a catalogue of products which are subject to substance restrictions and mandatory certification.... more...

...Electronic equipment and computer manufacturers need to invest in research and development to align their products with future 'green' regulations, not just those in force today, according to Gartner, as more governments around the world impose regulations on substances that may harm the environment.... more...

...As Europe's environmental legislation spreads worldwide, electronics companies are increasingly concerned that third parties are gaining control of confidential product information. Particularly worrisome is the call for mandatory RoHS substance analysis by China's RoHS law.... more...

...RoHS-International Ltd has released a set of China RoHS Guidance Notes. These contain essential and easy to understand information on how to comply with the China RoHS Regulations including a flow diagram of the steps necessary and key points for compliance.... more...

...The European Union’s (EU’s) Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive (or, more correctly, the "Framework Directive for the setting of Eco-design requirements for Energy Using Products") came into force in August 2005 and is one of a series of laws aimed at directly reducing the environmental impacts of products in the EU, rather than the impacts of the factories and processes that make them.... more...

...China is making progress toward promotion of its version of the European Union's Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances directive, which will take effect March 1. China's RoHS, officially known as The Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Industry, is expected to be implemented through the development of nine standards. Those standards will cover issues involving product design, development, manufacturing and the sale of products.... more...

...It appears that the threat posed by lead-free soldering to the reliability of the interconnect structures of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is perhaps more significant than the as yet not fully understood threat to the reliability of the solder joints themselves.... more...

...At a workshop seminar held at Thame (Oxfordshire, UK) on 6th December 2006, SMART Group focused on the practical realities and consequences of RoHS implementation from the standpoint of PCB specification and procurement.... more...

...The results of a three-month online poll conducted by electronics distributor Newark InOne showed an "overwhelming" sentiment from respondents that Congress should enact a Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) law, the company said, thereby creating a single compliance standard for all U.S. states.... more...

...Industrial engineers and buyers overwhelmingly favor having the U.S. Congress enact a restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) law, thereby creating a single compliance standard for all U.S. states, according to the results of an online survey by electronics distributor Newark InOne.... more...

...Total Parts Plus, a leading provider of obsolescence and environmental compliance management services announces its China RoHS labeling solution.... more...

...With the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive deadline in July 2006, it's no surprise that Green SupplyLine readers were most concerned about this directive including adaptations from Korea, China and California. All of the top eight feature articles in 2006 are about the RoHS directive with the number one and two stories focused on China's RoHS legislation.... more...

...Huntsman Corporation today announced that it has selected Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) as its RoHS compliance partner. Through this relationship, Huntsman will begin the process of applying for the UL RoHS Mark.... more...

...Bulgaria and Romania - two ex-communist nations from one of the poorest corners of Europe - joined the European Union, bringing the bloc's membership to 27 nations.... more...

...With the new year's arrival, previously communist countries of Bulgaria and Romania have officially become part of the European Union. The European Union now boasts 27 nations and 500 million people. Bulgarian President Georgy Parvanov was quoted as saying "Bulgaria will be a stable, predictable and trustworthy member of the European Union."... more...