The RoHS aims to protect human health and environment. It encourages the design of the electrical products to be environment friendly and safe in regards to recycling and recovery. The chemicals and materials restricted under RoHS directive are hazardous to the environment and pollute landfills. They are dangerous in terms of occupational exposure during manufacturing and recycling. Thus RoHS directives ensures safe production of electronic equipments and products. The goal of RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) is to reduce the environmental effect and health impact of electronics. The legislation’s primary purpose is to make electronics manufacturing safer at every stage of an electronic device’s life cycle.
RoHS Compliance for Global Market Footprint
The RoHS compliance is no longer limited to EU market. The RoHS compliance is further extended across the world. The countries such as , US California , China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Norway, India, Ukraine, Singapore, UAE , Turkey, Eurasia, Brazil have passed their own laws which comply with RoHS directives and restricts the use of hazardous materials and elements in electrical equipments and electronic manufacturing which aims to protect human health and environment.The manufacturer or importer can stand its footprint in global market only if it’s products are in compliance with RoHS standards.Using non- RoHS parts is now a legal matter. This is because all products have to conform with the RoHS standards , denoted by CE mark on the products, if they are to be sold.
Importance of RoHS compliance
Shifting to RoHS-compliant is an important call as globally the RoHS directives are laid down as strict laws. If you do not do so, in the long run you would face greater risks, economically. Sooner or later, most of the major world markets will be covered under RoHS laws. So, shifting to RoHS-compliant products would also be essential to export Indian products or components to global markets.
On the other hand, failing to comply with RoHS rules could result in hefty fines, an increase in the cost of the recycling and re-export of material, or the ban of a product from being exported. The director, manager or executive officer of a company will be regarded as having committed the offence. There can be indirect consequences also, like losing market competitiveness or future business opportunities.
Challenges to overcome
Throughout the electronics supply chain, all stakeholders would need to plan the changeover to RoHS-compliant products strategically, keeping in mind the costs and expenses involved in different processes.
To use, produce or procure alternative safe components, modules and products will be really expensive, as extensive R&D is needed, for which companies will have to invest a great deal of time as well as resources.
Enhanced manufacturing costs: To some extent, manufacturing costs would increase due to the process changes with new materials, and the low production yields associated with the new processes. The costs would also include phasing out capital equipment used for six substances banned by RoHS rules. For example, the cost of lead-free solder is approximately twice the cost of conventional lead-based solders. RoHS-compliant materials contain costly metals like silver and gold, and also need an increased rate of recycling. Manufacturing costs would also increase due to high failure rates of lead-free components during the manufacturing process. Import costs of these components and modules are also high.
Technological knowhow: Since electronic products are very complex, making them green also requires technological knowhow, which is available in the developed countries. New technology calls for very high costs, leading to increased development and production costs. And this cost will definitely be passed on to the customers.
Administrative expenses, which includes costs of training and gathering information, personnel and resource expenses, etc, will go up. The companies incurred cost for material declarations from suppliers and testing components for compliance, etc. Also, certification, auditing, etc, would involve costs.
New Opportunities for Businesses with RoHS compliance
It’s better to wake up today and take decisions before you fall back due to shortcomings in your parameters. Adhering to the rules laid down by government will definitely give you a front head to opportunities in the competitive business scenario. Complying with RoHS rules will ultimately increase the business opportunities for manufacturers as well as channel partners, as now they can compete in the global market, and their scope for exports would widen significantly.
Talk to our RoHS Compliance Specialist today, meet all your regulatory compliance obligations and stay ahead of supply chain sustainability.
