Sunday, October 25, 2009

ChemSec Newsletter October 2009 on EU RoHS Directive

 News from the International Chemical Secretariat

 Dear All,

  We are now focusing much of our work on the revision of the EU RoHS
 Directive that regulates hazardous substances within the electronics sector.
 Also - the SIN List has been updated and from today the SIN List consists of
 356 substances.

 The SIN List updated with substances newly classified within the EU – now
 containing 356 substances

 The SIN List 1.0 has been updated with 89 new substances. All of these are
 classified CMRs, substances that are Carcinogenic, Mutagenic, and toxic to
 Reproduction. This update of the SIN List is due to an extension of the list
 of substances classified as CMRs within the European Union. The SIN List
 consists of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) according to the official
 REACH criteria and therefore the SIN List is updated when new substances are
 defined as SVHC. One of the REACH criteria of SVHC are CMRs classified in
 accordance to the CLP Regulation (Regulation on Classification, Labelling
 and Packaging). The first update of the CLP Regulation was made in
 September, resulting in 89 new substances classified as CMRs. All of these
 89 are now included on the SIN List, which gives us a SIN List of 356
 substances.


 Review of the RoHS Directive

 The EU RoHS Directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronic
 products) is under review and ChemSec is bringing NGOs and business together
 for a stronger RoHS Directive. ChemSec has, together with the European
 Environmental Bureau and Clean Production Action, developed a position
 regarding the review of the RoHS Directive. Our aim is to make sure that the
 RoHS Directive continues to be a de facto global standard for the phase out
 of hazardous chemicals in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE). This
 approach takes into account both the direct impact of substances as well as
 the impact of substances that are the result of transformations at products'
 end of life. ChemSec invites leading manufacturers of electronic products to
 support a strengthening of the RoHS proposal.


 New ChemSec report: Apple, Sony Ericsson and suppliers are removing chlorine
 and bromine from electronics

 ChemSec, together with Clean Production Action, has published a report on
 companies within the electronics sector moving away from chemicals that can
 lead to health and environmental problems. The report: "Greening Consumer
 Electronics: Moving Away from Bromine and Chlorine" features seven
 companies, among them Sony Ericsson and Apple, who have engineered
 environmental solutions that negate the need for most - or in some cases all
 - uses of brominated and chlorinated chemicals. Despite initial concerns
 that substance restrictions in RoHS would disrupt the development of new and
 improved consumer electronic products, leading companies are now moving
 beyond RoHS compliance by restricting additional bromine and chlorine based
 compounds in consumer electronic products.

 Go to the new Greening Consumer Electronics report


 ChemSec arranges RoHS Conference in the European Parliament

 On 18 November, ChemSec will arrange a conference in the European Parliament
 in Brussels, focusing on the revision of the RoHS Directive. The "Conference
 on Greening Consumer Electronics – From Hazardous Material to Sustainable
 Solutions " will be hosted by Jill Evans, Member of the European Parliament
 and EP Rapporteur on the Revision of RoHS. At the conference Apple, Sony
 Ericsson and DSM will talk about their work in phasing out bromine and
 chlorine and delivering products without brominated flame retardants and
 PVC.



 More information is available at the ChemSec website
 http://www.chemsec.org/rohs

No comments:

Post a Comment