Companies pushing the edge on RoHS compliance

Some electronic product manufacturers are apparently pushing the envelope on compliance as they ship questionably compliant product into Europe. According to an article in Electronics Weekly, a UK-based sister publication to Design News, some manufacturers are willing to skirt the law in order to avoid investing in making their products lead free.

Companies are dodging compliance in a number of ways. Some have asked their contract manufacturers to create non-compliant product that can be passed off as compliant. Apparently a number of contract manufacturers have righteously balked at this request. Other companies have pushed the edges of what’s exempt, seeking loopholes to avoid complying with the RoHS rules. Apparently, there is just enough confusion about exemptions to obfuscate the issue.

Overall, reports suggest that the majority of companies shipping product into Europe are on the up and up. So far, there as not been any action taken against individual companies by the UK’s National Weights and Measure Laboratory which is tasked with policing RoHS.

Original text is here