US and Asian governments are about to impose their own versions of the EU's ROHS directive. Rather than targeting each region's regulations, manufacturers may standardize on the most stringent "green" directive. This move will affect even products that are exempt from regulation, as component manufacturers move away from noncompliant parts.
For the past three years, the electronics industry has been eyeing this month as the time that the European Union's ROHS (reduction-of-hazardous-substances) directive was supposed to take effect for some electronic products. Barring any last-minute legal maneuvers or postponements, electronic products bound for the multibillion-dollar European consumer market will need to satisfy the directive's limitations on six hazardous materials: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (Reference 1). The directive mandates that electronic products that do not comply with the directive's restrictions, calling for the elimination of these six substances, will face removal from the market and their manufacturers will have to pay fines.
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