ERA to support industry on new reviews of all RoHS exemptions and addition of new substances
Two new studies have been started by the European Commission regarding the RoHS Directive. One is considering the case for ALL existing exemptions plus some new requests, the other is looking at adding more substance restrictions to RoHS beyond the existing 6. Both studies could have major implications on the legality of existing designs which rely on current exemptions which may be withdrawn or substances which may be banned.

ERA has long experience in this area having both reviewed exemptions for the Commission and helped industry define the case for exemptions. ERA intends to support industry in providing substantive and convincing evidence to these reviews and would welcome approaches from industry.

China RoHS product composition tables available from ERA
China ’s version of RoHS, been in force since March 2007, requires all Electronic Information Products to be accompanied by a table of hazardous substances written in Chinese. ERA can analyse your product to define what information needs to be put in the table. Our own native Chinese speaking engineers can then translate this into Chinese.

RFA web pages revamped
ERA’s RFA group generally helps clients in two areas; forensic failure and reliability, and environmental regulatory compliance. In recognition of this fact, we have restructured our main service pages to reflect this fact. In the forensics area we have updated our SEM page to reflect the capabilities of our new equipment, and added pages specific to our services for lawyers and loss adjustors. Regarding environmental consultancy, we now have pages specifically covering our services on REACH, the Ecodesign (EuP) Directive and environmental review of chemical processes . Finally, we have added a new environmental news rss feed which we hope you will find useful.

Features

Bringing failures back to life using EBIC
Techniques which visualise the location of failures in electronic components are particularly useful in forensic fault analysis. Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) is a tool which can be used to do just that.

Batteries – choice, reliability and legal compliance
Batteries are essential for many types of electrical equipment and the correct choice is important to avoid early failures. New legislation can drive changes in design with unforeseen consequences. Understanding how to comply with legislation without compromising reliability is a critical issue.

Norway to restrict more substances
The Norwegian Government is proposing restrictions on 18 substances some of which will go beyond those in place in the rest of the EU. Hence, this could cause difficulties for manufacturers.

Course: Successful Obsolescence Management Strategy
Date: 13 November 2007 - venue Leatherhead, UK
The key to obsolescence management is ensuring it is addressed early. This course will help you identify and assess obsolescence problems and give you tools and techniques to deal with the impact.

Course: REACH Regulations for Equipment Manufacturers
Date: 11 December - venue Leatherhead, UK
REACH is now in force throughout the EU and has major implications for equipment producers and their supply chain. This course explains what your obligations are and how to deal with issues such as sudden phase out of substances. This course given in collaboration with the Chemical Business Association.

REACH compliance and hazardous substance restrictions - an ERA guide for the electrical products industry, 2nd Edition
ERA’s guide to the new EU REACH chemicals regulation was published in August and has proved extremely popular. REACH became law throughout the EU on the 1 June 2007 and has far reaching implications, not just for manufacturers and suppliers, but for everyone in the supply chain. This guide is designed primarily to assist those involved in the products sector, in particular the electrical products sector and its supply chain and is divided into two main sections:

- Understanding and responding to REACH
- Identifying and substituting substances of very high concern (SVHCs).

Edition 2 of the guide is soon to be published and has been extensively revised to cover developments in interpretation and expanded to provide more detail on scope, authorisation, registration and authorisation costs, downstream user requirements, identifying SVHCs, and a detailed index of the Regulation and its articles.

Download latest table of contents
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