IPC and IPCA comment on Indias proposed e-waste rules 2010
Article Type: Industry news From: Circuit World, Volume 36, Issue 4
Working together to address the latest round of proposed substance restrictions, IPC and the Indian Printed Circuits Association (IPCA) have submitted comments in response to the Indian Government’s Ministry of Environment and Forests draft notification of E-waste (Management and Handling)Rules 2010. Specifically, IPC is concerned that the proposed Chapter V,Reduction in the use of hazardous substances (RoHS) in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment will have a negative impact on the global and Indian electronics industry and will fail to accomplish the Ministry’s goal of environmentally sound management of electrical and electronic equipment waste.
In its comments, IPC explains that the simultaneous restriction of the 20 substances identified in Chapter V, Schedule III of the proposed draft regulation will not contribute to the environmentally sound disposal of electronic products and proposes that a scientific evaluation of substances be conducted in order to ensure that alternatives provide a benefit to human health and the environment. Several substances included in Schedule III have been proven to be safe for human health and the environment and should not be restricted under the Ministry’s proposal. For example,tetrabromobisphenol-a (TBBPA), the most common flame retardant used in more than 80 percentage of printed boards, has been safely used for decades. The World Health Organization and the European Commission Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks conducted separate, comprehensive scientific assessments of TBBPA and both found TBBPA to be safe for human health and the environment.
Noting a study of lead-free solder conducted by the US EPA, IPC warns of the environmental trade-offs when restricting substances and blindly substituting one for another. Following the European Union’s restriction of the use of lead in electronics under the RoHS Directive, the EPA study evaluated the environmental impacts of tin-lead solder versus lead-free alternative solders and found that the increased energy use associated with the higher operating temperatures required for manufacturing lead-free soldered electronics would cause greater negative impacts on the environmental than tin-lead soldered electronics.
IPC also urged the Ministry to consider removing medical devices and monitoring and control instruments, Categories V and VI, respectively, from the list of product categories covered because of their extreme complexity and suggested the institution of a phase-in plan for medical devices and monitoring and control equipment, similar to that proposed for the revision of the European RoHS Directive. Along those lines, IPC asked the Ministry to harmonize the list of substances for restriction with the current RoHS Directives in the European Union and China to help Indian manufacturers compete globally.
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