Materials declaration threatens IP

Component manufacturers have been expressing concerns that the materials declaration their OEM and contract manufacturing (CM) customers request may offer a peek into proprietary information. At a recent roundtable meeting held by the National Electronic Distributors Association, component suppliers voiced reservations about offering complete data.

Yet, even as these concerns surfaced, suppliers acknowledge they are furiously scrambling to get material composition to their nervous customers that are working to get their due diligence data together before the July 1, 2006 RoHS deadline. “At this point OEMs and CMs are just happy to get the data,” says Mary Carter-Berrios, technical product manager at Kemet Corp., a component supplier in Greenville, S.C.

Carter-Barrios notes that OEMs and CMs are not questioning the fine details the materials declaration. Meanwhile, component suppliers are holding back some of their more sensitive information. She predicts the industry will arrive at a standard level of declaration in the next 12 to 18 months that will satisfy EU countries without revealing IP.

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