The second meeting of the EuP Consultation Forum is held to consider Implementing Measures for “standby and off-mode electric power consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment”. The focus of these IMs is on household and office equipment and are targeted to come into effect in 2008.
Author Archives: ECD_admin
May 29, 2007: Intel goes Pb-free in processors
Intel announces that their next generation processors will be entirely Pb-free. Intel has been hinting for the past year that it will move to discontinue it’s Pb-based manufacturing. The next generation processors will be available only with Pb-free terminations/balls and will not require the Pb in flip-chip exemption that has been used throughout the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Intel also plans to discontinue its existing Pb-based products, but has not set a specific date.
April 2007: International standard on Environmentally Conscious Design (ECD)
The IEC is developing an international standard on Environmentally Conscious Design (ECD) of IT and Communication Technology products (IEC62075, Ed 1.0). The standard is being developed by experts within the TC108 committee — representatives from the major IT and communication equipment producers. Balloting on the draft standard closed this month. The current proposal specifies requirements and recommendations for the environmentally conscious design of products with regard to:
- life cycle thinking aspects,
- material efficiency,
- energy efficiency,
- consumables and batteries,
- chemical and noise emissions,
- extension of product lifetime,
- end of life,
- hazardous substances/preparations,
- product packaging, and
- documentation.
March 1, 2007: China RoHS comes into effect
China RoHS marking, documentation, and packaging requirements come into effect.
October 14, 2006: RoHS exemptions
The European Commission has officially published the nine exemptions approved by the TAC (Technical Adaptation Committee) in June 2006. The exemptions were published in Commission Decisions 2006/690/EC, 2006/691/EC, and 2006/692/EC. The new exemptions include hexavalent chromium in select category 3 applications and Pb in the terminal finish of select fine pitch Integrated Circuits.
September 2006: Guidance for assessing product against substance restrictions
IEC/TC111 began development of TS62476 “Guidance for assessing compliance of finished goods” with respect to restriction of use of hazardous substances”. As an International Specification, the objective is to make the guidance generally applicable across multiple regions, including the European Union and China.
July 2006: Guidance of sample disjointment
IEC/TC111 began development of a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) on Sample Disjointment. This specification will assist manufacturers and OEMs disassembling and sampling products/components for purpose of testing with respect to the RoHS restricted substances.
June 7, 2006: Update to IPC-1752
IPC has released an update to the material declaration forms that correct the licensing issue by Adobe. Adobe is working to provide a secure, web-based system to reenable v1.0 forms and remove the time restriction on existing forms. (UPDATE: As of Oct 2006, the re-enablement web site is still awaiting release)