Poll finds support for a U.S RoHS law
By Jim Carbone -- Purchasing, 10/5/2006 12:52:00 PM
There is significant support for a U.S. law that would be similar to the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) legislation, according to an online poll conducted by catalog distributor Newark InOne. The poll conducted in September and early October shows that 65% of buyers, engineers and others in the electronics industry favor such legislation. RoHS bans the use of lead and five other substances from being used in electronics equipment sold in Europe. The poll found that 31% were against such a law and 4% were unsure. Purchasing magazine also ran the poll question on its website in September and had the same results. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed at Purchasing.com also favored a U.S. RoHS-like law. Paul Tallentire, president of Newark InOne, notes that California has enacted its own RoHS rule, which takes effect January 1. While not as comprehensive as the EU's RoHS, its scope is expected to expand. State rules aimed at restricting mercury have been enacted in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. "Increasing and varying state-by-state rules are already causing unnecessary complexity for electronic manufacturers and distributors who must try to track and meet them all,” says Tallentire. “Are we going to wait until we have 50 state laws with 50 flavors, before we enact a uniform national standard for our industry?" Tallentire cites global competition as another imperative. "Both China and South Korea have already proposed RoHS-style regulations to ensure that their own manufacturers can continue to export electronic goods to the EU and the rest of the world. Are the stakes any less for US manufacturers?"
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