Flame Retardant Regulatory Maze Bewilders Design Engineers

It may have surprised some to see auto CEOs cheer new US fuel mileage guidelines that will require a huge shift to smaller cars. But the fact is that a giant mishmash of regulations have emerged affecting the design of just about everything. CEOs are just glad to know there is a single target and they know what to do, agree or not with the new standards.Design engineers face a similar regulatory chaos with guidelines on high-performance polymers used in electronics. OEMs face rules from the European Union through Reach and RoHS; the Green Chemistry Imitative, which became law in California in 2008; Canada, US law, and various state laws. Every OEM seems to have a different plan to comply. Nokia went halogen free in 2007. Intel banned brominated flame retartdants in 2008. Motorola restricted brominated flamr retardants this year. And so on.