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China recently released a regulation on how to develop a managing catalog for controlling pollution caused by electronics information products in China, indicating that China RoHs is moving forward to the next stage, according to Jianzhong Huang, director at the Energy Conserving and Usage department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
The Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products, known as China RoHS, started implementation in March 2007. It requires electronics manufacturers to label all electronics products sold in China with the hazardous substances contained in their production. Now, the Chinese government is setting guidelines for the managing catalog. Once a product is listed in the catalog, six months is given to replace it with more environmentally-friendly product or to reduce the amount of hazardous substances.
This product catalog regulation stipulates products will be listed in the catalog if they contain hazardous substances that heavily pollute the environment and harm people's health; are used in a wide range of applications with high-volume production; offer replacement with mature technology and have an acceptable price.
MIIT stressed that a product will be listed in the catalog only if it has replacement with a mature technology and an acceptable price. Otherwise, it won't be listed even if it contains a hazardous substance.
Huang mentioned that China RoHs is a gradual process. He noted that a catalog management approach fits China's situation more because this would give China's manufacturers adequate time to develop and explore new materials for production while gradually reducing the use of hazardous materials.
Later, China will require only finished product manufacturers to control hazardous substances contained in their production, and finished product manufacturers will require its component and material vendors to control hazardous substances and provide more environmentally-friendly products.
The initiative behind formulating China's RoHS is not only to actively respond to the EU's RoHS directive but also to manage all electronics pollution controls under legislation, Huang said. "We want to use legislation and standards to manage our electronics manufacturing process," he added.
In addition, China will release a regulation soon on controlling environmental pollution caused by electronics waste and managing electronics recycling and reuse.
In August 2008, China's State Council passed a new draft of its Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulation guidelines on the management of electronic wastes. China's WEEE regulation was initially issued in draft form in 2004.
According to the newly passed draft, China will set up a mechanism to deal with recycling and centralized treatment of electronic waste. Furthermore, China is to establish a special fund in this area.
This draft also stipulated the responsibilities of manufacturers, retailers, repair and customer service providers and recycling companies in the process of collection and treatment of electronic waste. Electronic waste includes used consumer electronics, computers and industrial equipment.
Huang mentioned WEEE will be released very soon, hopefully by the end of this year or the beginning of 2009.
Amy Wang can be reached at amywang@china-outlook.com
See related articles:
Decoding China RoHS
Eight steps to China RoHS compliance
Leverage EU RoHS data to meet China RoHS requirements
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