Understanding EuP and REACH

Published

June 10, 2008

Author(s)

John V. Messina, Eric D. Simmon

Abstract

There has been a world-wide trend towards legislation meant to encourage sustainable manufacturing and minimize the environmental impact of product manufacturing. In the global economy, with its distributed supply chain, local environmental laws may affect companies located anywhere in the world. Often, these laws are targeted at the finished goods manufacturer on the assumption that changes will propagate through the supply chain all the way to the raw material suppliers. Penalties for non-compliance may include monetary fines and/or trade restrictions. Compliance will likely require modifications to existing manufacturing processes, the use of alternative materials or chemicals, and new data systems to track relevant information. In order to be prepared, companies need to look ahead to identify new and future legislation and determine how it might impact their business. The crux of the problem is that companies need to be prepared well before new legislation goes into effect. This paper takes a closer look at two upcoming European Union legislative acts that will have a significant impact on the electronics and semiconductor industries in Europe in the future. Specifically, it gives an overview of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) regulation and Energy Using Products (EuP) Directive. REACH creates a mechanism for the registration of chemical substances manufactured or imported into the EU, a methodology for the eval((uation of those chemicals and their associated safety risks, and finally establishes an authorization requirement for chemicals of high concern. Instead of concentrating on materials, the focus of EuP is on energy. EuP is part of the EU wide Energy Efficiency Action Plan and seeks to reduce energy usage. While these directives will affect companies within the European Union, due to global nature of modern industry their impact will be felt far beyond the borders of the European Union.

Conference Dates

March 29-April 3, 2008

Conference Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

Conference Title

2008 IPC APEX

Pub Type

Conferences

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Local Download

Keywords

Data Exchange, Environment, EuP, REACH

Citation

Messina, J. and Simmon, E. (2008), Understanding EuP and REACH, 2008 IPC APEX, Las Vegas, NV, USA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=32845 (Accessed April 16, 2024)