Apr 01, 2005

ASTM International, one of the largest voluntary standards development organizations in the world, today announced the formation of a new committee to develop standards for the evaluation of materials and products relative to the restriction of certain hazardous substances. Committee F40 on Declarable Substances in Materials will address issues that could have a devastating economic impact on large and small businesses around the world.

Very recently, various countries have legislated restrictions on certain hazardous materials used in many industries. One such requirement is European Union (EU) Directive 2002/95/EC on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS). It states that by July 2006, all manufacturers of electronic and electrical equipment sold in Europe must comply with the EUs RoHS directive, which mandates the reduction of six hazardous substances: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

The EU directive covers the following products/sectors:

• Household appliances,
• IT and telecommunications equipment,
• Consumer equipment,
• Lighting,
• Electrical and electronic tools (except large-scale stationary industrial tools),
• Toys, leisure, and sports equipment, and
• Automatic dispensers.

Many finished goods can contain substances from the same batch of raw or semi-finished materials. RoHS laws may require hundreds or thousands of redundant tests. According to the chairman of the newly-formed committee, Tim McGrady of IMR Test Labs in Lansing, New York, "RoHS compliance issues are not exclusive to the electronics industry. The true scope of RoHS is global in nature and impacts nearly every material used to manufacture non-food goods. Since industry uses standards to communicate through contracts, those standards must be in place in advance of the effective date of regulations, or chaos and significant unnecessary costs may ensue." Dr. McGrady cites the United Kingdoms Department of Trade and Industry estimate that the average additional costs for just the UK due to RoHS would total 2.2 billion euro (1.5 billion pounds or $2.8 billion USD) over 10 years. The costs, as always, will be passed along to the consumer.

Any company, regardless of domicile, that will be affected by the regulation of materials may be exposed to high compliance costs and liability. Any company that is doing conformity assessment or quality assurance involving chemical analysis of materials to ensure compliance with laws, codes, or regulations should have a say about the content of standard test methods.

Beginning the Standardization Process

On Oct. 15, 2004, representatives from the appliance, electric tool, electronic, laboratory, instrument manufacturing, and supplier sectors affected by RoHS legislation attended a planning meeting at ASTM International Headquarters. They agreed to hold an organizational meeting to discuss the creation of a new standardization activity on declarable substances. The organizational meeting occurred Jan. 13-14, 2005, at ASTM International Headquarters. Over 50 attendees representing a wide variety of stakeholder groups passed a motion without dissent that ASTM International establish a new main committee on declarable substances in materials.

In addition to promulgating new standards, Committee F40 will research the presence and potential relevance of existing laws, codes, regulations, and standards. F40 will also act as a liaison among the various other global groups interested in standardization with regard to substance regulations. Andrew Ellis, Technical Director of Oxford Instruments Analytical in the UK and F40 vice-chairman, reflects on the global responsibilities of the committee, "As RoHS and declarable substances are global challenges for suppliers and consumers alike, Committee F40 is made up of an excellent cross section of members. We cover many suppliers of consumer equipment and also equipment used to measure declarable substances. We also represent organizations that are themselves global and, therefore, have an understanding of and exposure to the global implications of regulations and trading. We will, I anticipate, be very active in the coming couple of years as these regulations come fully into force around the world." A variety of nations are represented on the current F40 roster of members.

The subcommittees of F40 will cover the following areas: test methods, management practices and guides, monitoring of legislation and regulation, existing document research/liaison, and terminology.

Participation Is Open

The development of standards within Committee F40 represents a chance to help the environment while constraining unnecessary compliance costs that may damage many sectors of the world economy. If you are part of the business sectors mentioned above, participation in F40 is in your economic interest.

The next meeting of Committee F40 will take place May 26-27, 2005, at ASTM International Headquarters. Interested individuals are encouraged to attend and can register via the F40 homepage.

For more information on ASTM Committee F40, contact Pat A. Picariello, ASTM director of developmental operations (phone: 610/832-9720; ppicarie@astm.org) or visit http://www.astm.org/COMMIT/F40.htm.

Release #7128