The government of India last month passed Rules 2011, regulations that cover the restriction of hazardous materials in electronic and electrical components and equipment. Rules 2011 covers the equivalent of the European Union’s WEEE e-waste regulations that guide the disposal of electronic and electrical equipment, as well as the restrictions on hazardous materials in electronic and electrical components, much like the EU’s RoHS directive.
Rules 2011 applies to producers and distributors involved in the manufacture, sale, and processing of electronic and electrical equipment or components. The restrictions also affect waste collection centers, product dismantlers, and recyclers.
The waste-related provisions will be enforced beginnng May 1, 2012. The RoHS-related hazardous materials provisions will go into effect May 12, 2013.
Last month, India’s Ministry of Environment and Forests released a notification spelling out the new WEEE and RoHS rules.
As expected, there is considerable similarity between India’s regulations and the EU regulations. Batteries and radioactive waste are not dealt with under the Rules 2011, as they are already regulated by existing Indian laws. As with the EU RoHS directive, there are 39 substance exemptions.
There are some variances between India RoHS and the EU RoHS, but they are slight. “The hazardous materials and limits are the same as EU RoHS today, but encompasses a more limited scope,” says Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates, a San Francisco firm that consults on environmental compliance, in an interview. “The EU RoHS exemptions in place today are the same for India RoHS except that unlike the EU, exemption expiration dates are not included.”
You have a good point in suggesting that not everyone is complying. I'm not sure who is and who isn't, but I know there have been complaints about a lack of enforcement.
You are correct. I hope it's worth it. I know that we are spending extra on making ROHS boards, solder rework stations, training, equipment calibration for different temperatures, etc... What concerns me the most that we are complying, but I'm not sure that firms in China, India, etc.. are as honest as we are.
The track record is not there.
I also look at many regulations as a pragmatist. Some requlations are just to keep the imports more expensive and help local guys or collect higher duty.
Nevertheless this regulation should be consistant.
It's quite a challenge. Products are global. For many companies with electronics in their products, they have to make sure they are compliant with all RoHS laws: EU, China, Korea, now India. Their products could end up in any of these countries. It will get more demanding with the EU's RoHS Recast which will take affect in 18 months. Now RoHS will cover even products that are not primarily electrical or electronic. That includes toys, like teddy bears that talk. Those products used to be exempt because they were primarily teddy bears. No longer.
More madness in the industry. The ROHS directives resemble the Health Law. Too many pages, difficult to understand and then many items do not need to comply.
India, from all countries !!!
Not enough that we need to spend three hours on shipping paperwork to send $100.00 of parts, now we will need to do all that new stuff.
There have been some attempts to create a national law in the United States. They haven't been successful. Much of the electroncis industry has been asking for a comprehensive law. Others take the view of letting different states do different approaches as experimentation and incubation, with the notion that one apporach will come to make the most sense.
A very interesting point you raise Rob. We have INDEPENDANT e-waste laws and nothing nationally. I'm not aware of the independant countries in the EU having separate e-waste laws. And since the EU RoHS is pretty much the standard, most all companies that do business worldwide simply require their products to be RoHS compliant.
That would be too easy, Beth. No, there isn't any concerted effort to create an international standard. Companies typically aim for the one that is the most strict and hope they're covered for all of them. The EU RoHS is pretty much the standard, but not entirely.
The United State is particularly problematic. We have independent e-waste laws in more than half our states. The industry would like one uniform law for the United States, but so far, that doesn't look likely. So it's a patchwork.
Seems like it was only a matter of time before India as well as other countries pass some form of e-waste and hazardous materials regulations, and the landscape is likely to get even more complex given the variances--slight or otherwise. Is there any movement to promoting more of a global standard, which might make it easier for manufacturers to comply?
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