Environmental Compliance

Our planet is getting hotter every day, (proof being a very warm winter so far here in Toronto) there is global warming and resources are being used at a very high rate than what it can be replenished. No wonder, we have seen a big surge in initiatives all across the spectrum to address our planets environment. The electronics industry is not spared from this, there are number of environmental regulations which are already in place and more work is getting done to revise existing laws and introduce more as I write this blog. Though this causes some challenges for the industry, I’m 100% in support of these directives if the intentions behind them are to save the environment and to protect the well being of people.

 The European Union has taken a lead in bringing these Environmental Regulations and now the rest is following their lead. The first to be hit the electronic industry was the battery directive then came the WEEE and the ROHS directive. The ROHS had major impact on the industry as it required removing lead from the products which being the main substance used for soldering & plating. Psion took a huge initiative by launching the “ROHS Project” and the team made sure all new product lines meet the directive before the deadline. Now EU has introduced another environmental regulation which puts restrictions on certain chemicals which are deemed to be hazardous to the environment. This directive is called REACH which stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals substances. The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) publishes list of substances which is called candidate list. Under the definition of the regulation, Psion is a manufacturer and supplier of “articles” (products). Under the directive suppliers and manufacturers are required to provide the recipients or consumers if a supplied article contains more than 0.1% (by weight per article) of any substance(s) on the SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) candidate list with sufficient information to allow the safe use of the article including as a minimum the name of the SVHC (s). Companies have to take necessary actions by collecting Certificate of Compliance (CoC's) from their suppliers. In short, the entire supply chain has to be checked to verify that none of the hazourdous substances are over the threshold.

Psion has taken concrete steps to ensure that its products and internal processes including packaging materials meet REACH compliancy. Psion's statement on REACH actiivty can be found at this link,

http://www.psion.com/documents/us/Miscellaneous/Psion_REACH_statement_signed_orginal.pdf

 EU is taking lead with these regulations but now other countries are joining in and creating their own regulations. China ROHS is one of them. US has implemented some of these regulations but so far they are only limited to the state of California. Electronic recycling and reuse seems like the focus at the moment and many countries are making laws to address this.

 All of this does puts extra challenge and burden on companies, which can be contributed to cost of doing business and part of responsible manufacturing. Environmental Compliance is going to become part of business. To effectively deal with these ever changing regulations all around the globe is to stay on top of it, proactively address the regulations which may affect the business. By effectively doing this will put the company in good light with their consumers and could provide a competitive edge with their competitors.