|
China On February 28, 2006 six government ministries of the Peoples Republic of China announced the long-anticipated “Administrative Measure on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products,” or China RoHS, as it is commonly called. An unofficial translation is available. The goal of the Administrative Measures is to make companies disclose and control the use of “Hazardous” and “Toxic” Substances Control. While China is initially focusing on the same six substances as the European Union (EU) Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS), the government reserves the right to add substances in the future, although there are no current plans to do so. While the Administrative Measures requirements are similar to the RoHS Directive, there are many significant differences.The Administrative Measures apply to all “electronic information products” which are listed on the Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China (MII) website. An unofficial translation is available. In addition to the measures, a number of standards will be developed including Labeling requirement, Maximum concentration values (MCV), and Testing methods. The first part of the Administrative Measures implement the disclosure portion of the regulations. Effective March 1, 2006, all EIP must be labeled in accord with the marking stndards, which have not yet been finalized. An unofficial translation of the July 9 "final draft" is available. The usecond portion of the Administrative Measures will control the use of hazardous and toxic substances through substance restrictions. Only EIP listed in a yet-to-be-published catalog will be subject to the substance restrictions. The restricted substances and their allowable concentration values are expected to be similar to those required under the EU RoHS. Items listed in the catalog will need to undergo pre-market certification and laboratory testing through the CCC mark system. |
