December 15, 2007:The draft standard IEC 62321 on Procedures for the determination of levels of six regulated substances (Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated Biphenyls, Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers) was approved by the IEC/TC111 committee. Both industry and government have been awaiting the publication of this standard to provide a common agreement for testing for the RoHS substances.

November 2, 2007: NWML releases report on UK RoHS Enforcement. The UK RoHS enforcement authority, the National Weights and Measures Laboratory (NWML), has released its first year report on enforcement of the EU RoHS Directive. The NWML confirmed that a large number of compliance issues had been found and remedial actions taken with several producers. Enforcement was hampered by limitations defined in the UK RoHS regulation; the regulation will be updated in Feb 2008 to increase enforcement powers. 

October 19, 2007: The second meeting of the EuP Consultation Forum is held to consider Implementing Measures for “standby and off-mode electric power consumption of electrical and electronic household and office equipment”.  The focus of these IMs is on household and office equipment and are targeted to come into effect in 2008.

May 29, 2007: Intel announces that their next generation processors will be entirely Pb-free. Intel has been hinting for the past year that it will move to discontinue it’s Pb-based manufacturing. The next generation processors will be available only with Pb-free terminations/balls and will not require the Pb in flip-chip exemption that has been used throughout the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Intel also plans to discontinue its existing Pb-based products, but has not set a specific date.

April 2007: The IEC is developing an international standard on Environmentally Conscious Design (ECD) of IT and Communication Technology products (IEC62075, Ed 1.0). The standard is being developed by experts within the TC108 committee -- representatives from the major IT and communication equipment producers. Balloting on the draft standard closed this month. The current proposal specifies requirements and recommendations for the environmentally conscious design of products with regard to:

• life cycle thinking aspects,
• material efficiency,
• energy efficiency,
• consumables and batteries,
• chemical and noise emissions,
• extension of product lifetime,
• end of life,
• hazardous substances/preparations,
• product packaging, and
• documentation.

March 1, 2007: China RoHS marking, documentation, and packaging requirements come into effect.

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