	Electronic Engineering News Digest
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iNEMI forms HFR-Free Leadership Program - The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) has launched a HFR (halogenated flame retardant)-Free Leadership Program.

Green Manufacturing Expo – Chicago in September - The Green Manufacturing Expo will be held on September 22-24 in Rosemont, Ill. The expo was created to provide a wide spectrum of economically sound solutions for the manufacturing enterprise interested in improving process efficiency, reducing costs, and conserving energy and resources.

Voids found in lead-free solder joints - According to an article in Electronics Weekly, a UK-based sister publication of Design News, a researcher at the UK’s University of Leicester has discovered detrimental voids in lead-free solder joints.

GreenSoft launches GreenData Manager - REACH workgroup - The workgroup edition was created to offer a complete compliance data management system for RoHS, REACH and REACH SVHC (substances of very high concern). The workgroup product was designed for multiple users nad tailored to medium-to-large enterprises.

An argument for leaded solder in servers - Here’s a pretty good argument for leaded solder. In a blog on ServerWatch, technology writer, Drew Robb, argues the merits of using leaded solder. Much of the electronics industry agrees, but the reality is lead-free has become the forced norm for most electronic products.

REACH hits the EU this month - As of June 1, 2009, all European Union suppliers are required to comply with a raft of substance restrictions under the REACH regulation.

House considers RoHS-like bill - The U.S. House of Representatives is considering a RoHS-like bill that would become part of the Toxic Substances Control Act. The Environmental Design of Electrical Equipment is more limited than RoHS, according to Gary Nevison of Farnell, a London-based components distributor.

Lasky: Lead-free is plenty reliable - With more than two years into the lead-free conversion, it’s become clear lead-free components are reliable. According to Dr. Ronald Lasky, senior technologist with Indium and a professor at Dartmouth University says the surprise of RoHS is that reliability has not been an issue.

Tin, silver, copper becomes standard for RoHS solder - According to an article by Mitch Holtzer of Cookson Electronics that appeared in SMT Online, tin/silver/copper (SAC) alloys have become the industry standard lead-free solders since RoHS went into effect.

How will RoHS changes affect medical equipment? - New RoHS changes will impact medical devices. Many of the exemptions that kept RoHS from restricting medical devices will be lifted. Fred Loneker, a senior manager with Environ International Corp.

Engineers need to track RoHS changes - The European Commission is about to drop six exemptions from the RoHS directive. While a move of this order was expected, it still shows that design engineers need to be cognizant of changes in environmental regulations. the components they chose yesterday may not be compliant today.

Six RoHS exemptions cut - In the latest round of RoHS changes, six exemptions will be retired from the directive’s list of 29 exemptions. In an article in EDN, a Design News sister site, Gary Nevison of Newark and Farnell explains which six exemptions will expire over the next two years.

The impact of environmental regulations on electronics manufacturers - Here’s an in-depth paper that covers the Impact of Environmental Regulations on Electronic Manufacturers. Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates, a firm the helps companies comply with regulations, authored the paper for the December 2008 Conference on Resource Recycling.

SaaS eco-software for REACH and RoHS - Green EcoSystems Group of Colorado Springs, Colo. has introduced Green -EcoSystems software-as-a-service designed to help manufacturing companies address requirements related to the REACH directive. The tool also supports RoHS compliance.

Selecting the right lead-free connector design - RoHS laws have affected manufacturing processes as well as changing the nature of electronic components. The article, “Designing for RoHS: Select the right lead-free-connector design for heat-sensitive applications,” explores the RoHS-compliant alternatives for design engineers.

Producer organisation calls for WEEE "pre-approval" process

22.08.2006 08:30 - Source: WEEE Directory

Electronics industry organisation REPIC has expressed concern over the "compressed" timetable for forthcoming new recycling regulations, due to hit in July next year.

The government is currently consulting over the new regulations, which will make electronics producer and retailers pay for the collection and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

But such is the task expected to register the producers, the Recycling Electrical Producers Industry Consortium today called for the process to begin even before the regulations are laid before Parliament in December.

Dr Phil Morton, REPIC's chief executive, suggested to letsrecycle.com that some form of "pre-approval" process could be started for producer compliance scheme.

He said: "The Agency could introduce a period of pre-approval – there would be nothing wrong with that. They say okay, you have approval, but subject to the publication of the regulations. It would get a lot of the spade work out of the way.

"It would also give them a chance to address the keys issues in a scheme, giving us the time to smooth them out. If you want to achieve the July date, the timescale needs to be a little more practical," he added.

Timetable
Under the current timetable set out by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Agency is to approve compliance schemes by February 28, but the deadline for compliance schemes to register their producer members is March 15.

Information on the amount of electronics placed on the market by those producers must be submitted by the end of March, so that recycling obligations can be calculated.

"No producer is going to want to sign up until a scheme has full approval, so we will have two weeks to register, then just two weeks after that we have to provide market data," said Dr Morton, whose organisation represents mainly white goods producers.

He added that compliance schemes would not be the only organisations troubled by the deadline, pointing out: "The Agency only has a month to approve the compliance schemes, what happens if we get 100 schemes applying?"

Original text is here