The European Union has approved three directives aimed at reducing the design (REACH), amount (WEEE) and types (RoHS) of hazardous waste generated by Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE).

• 27 January 2003
• WEEE is tasked with reducing the amount of electrical and electronic equipment from entering landfills at the end of its useful life by encouraging reuse and recycle.
• 1 July 2006
• RoHS is tasked to reduce harmful substances at the source, ensuring that these hazardous substances are not put into the environment by equipment that is not recycled.
• 1 June 2007
• REACH wants to influence the chemical industry to design and produce more eco-friendly products.
• The EU Commission has now revealed plans to reform the RoHS Directive "…to develop a better regulatory environment, one that is simple, understandable, effective and enforceable."
• Changes to scope and effectivity dates:
• Medical devices - beginning 2014
• In vitro medical devices - beginning 2016
• Monitoring and control instruments - beginning 2014
• Industrial monitoring and control instruments - beginning 2017

This legislation has profound impact on the supply chain and the support that customers now need from their EMS providers. While the legislation technically only relates to products sold within the EU, it has driven similar legislative trends in some parts of the U.S., and motivated component manufacturers to focus production on RoHS-compliant parts. This means that even OEMs whose products are excluded from current legislation or who don’t export into the EU can be impacted in terms of component availability, product redesign strategy or product disposal requirements.

EPIC partners with its customers to address these issues during the complete product lifecycle. Key areas of support include:

• Component engineering support for BOM conversion to RoHS
• Obtaining required Declaration of Conformance certification from materials suppliers
• Incoming material inspection and verification
• Segregation of lead-free and leaded material and production processes
• Robust processes for material storage, handling and ECN control
• Internal focus on continued optimization of RoHS-compliant production processes as technology advances or regulations change
• Comprehensive configuration management for RoHS and leaded products in repair operations
• E-waste recycling associated with repair depot operations is done in accordance with local regulations and thoroughly documented
• Internal policy to destroy scrap ICs, BGAs and memory cards to ensure these used components are not resold
• Appropriate Declaration of Conformance certification support for finished goods.