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Product category: Compliance Engineering
News Release from: DHL Environmental Compliance Solutions | Subject: Environmental services
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 31 May 2005

Parlez-vous WEEE? Sprechen sie RoHS?

Paul James, a General Manager at Exel, outlines the current state of RoHS and WEEE legislation and the problems companies may encounter as a result of the new environmental regime

Waste is fast becoming public enemy number one in the eyes of the European Union, which is behind the imminent introduction of some of the most rigorous environmental legislation to hit UK businesses. Specifically, the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directives will hit many businesses involved in the manufacture and retailing of any electrical product with a plug or a battery.

One important issue on most business' boardroom agendas at the moment is the raft of environmental regulations that will soon become law across Europe.

While RoHS comes into effect in July 2006, WEEE is likely to be enforced early next year, giving businesses limited time to make the necessary arrangements to ensure compliance.

For many businesses involved in the manufacture and marketing of electrical goods and electronic products, this presents a major headache.

The problem is that while many businesses have well developed strategies for managing their conformity with WEEE and RoHS, many more are nowhere near achieving compliance.

And noncompliance with RoHS is not an option for any business.

Ask a major games manufacturer about its experience in Holland - when its products were held in storage due to cables containing levels of a banned substance - and it's fair to conclude that RoHS, when it is enacted in UK law will create shockwaves across industry.

RoHS means that component manufacturers, product manufacturers, brand owners or importers will have responsibilities to ensure that electric and electronic products do not contain more than minimal levels of six banned substances.

It is all about the beginning of a product's life.

The introduction of RoHS will mean businesses will need to produce significant amounts of documentation to confirm that their products meet the standard.

Although many busy executives may see this as more red tape - the possible consequences of noncompliance could see retailers refusing to stock products without a RoHS certificate.

WEEE, on the other hand, is concerned with the end of a product's life.

It creates recycling and recovery targets for a wide range of electrical products and is concerned with the disposal of redundant goods.

Although the UK Government admitted that the implementation of WEEE regulations has slipped from its original August 2005 deadline by around six months, the practical realities of the directive suggest that those companies not actively addressing their WEEE responsibilities are likely to miss the deadline.

Latest estimates reveal that the UK alone produces 915,000 tonnes of domestic and commercial WEEE every year.

Extrapolating this figure across Europe makes it easy to see that the scale of the issue is huge - and that the introduction of legislation across the 25 member states will be no mean feat.

WEEE has far reaching implications for UK businesses on two counts: the collection of disused product and appropriate recycling.

Although brand owners and retailers need to consider the pros and cons of setting up their own collection schemes or outsourcing the function to a logistics specialist, they also need to address the issue of recycling and appropriate treatment for end of life products.

Looking at this complexity from the perspective of a UK business, it is easy to see how the introduction of RoHS and WEEE could become a significant distraction for company directors, who need to take these issues seriously.

Manufacturers of electrical goods should be conducting detailed audits of their total supply chains now to ensure compliance with RoHS.

In order to protect their reputation, market share and profitability, manufacturers need to establish scalable data capture systems to track compliance for both suppliers' and subsuppliers' compliance.

Exporting companies have an even more pressing need to use intelligent data management systems as the potential for complexity is magnified.

Indeed, some exporting companies may well be faced with up to 50 different sets of compliance administration in the future, assuming they export to every EU country requiring different data collection or reporting standards for both RoHS and WEEE.

If products are packaged, this task could be even more onerous as they may also fall under the European packaging waste directive - in its 25 different forms.

While RoHS is being implemented in a broadly standard form across Europe, the countries have different interpretations of the WEEE Directive and even different timetables.

Germany will start enforcing their rules from March 2006 while Ireland is sticking to the August 2005 timetable set out in the original Directive.

The UK Government has yet to make up its mind but has indicated that January 2006 is a likely start date.

Meeting these widely different requirements will be a significant issue for businesses - especially those with significant export interests - who need to establish reliable and accurate systems to deal with the potential mountain of administration needed to comply with both RoHS and WEEE.

Many businesses have already addressed this issue by adopting web-based reporting systems that automatically collect and submit data for both RoHS and WEEE, while also updating the organisation on the latest revisions to legislation and reporting requirements.

Exel has already developed a number of services to help producers and retailers fulfil their responsibilities in this area.

Like it or not, businesses now need to achieve and show that they are meeting environmental targets.

Those that invest in people and technology to turn this challenge into a competitive advantage are likely to come out as the winners.

Those that ignore the legislation coming down the track will surely wither as they lose contracts, credibility and market share.

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