December 15, 2010: Europe adds eight substance to REACH SVHC Candidate List - The European Chamical Agency (ECHA) has official added 8 substances to the SVHC candidate list, imposing immediate obligations on industry to declare these substances (as per REACH article 33). The substances include: Cobalt(II) sulphate, Cobalt(II) dinitrate, Cobalt(II) carbonate, Cobalt(II) diacetate, 2-Methoxyethanol, 2-Ethoxyethanol, Chromium trioxide, and Chromic acid, Oligomers of chromic acid and dichromic acid, Dichromic acid.

October 21, 2010: China - The Chinese government has submitted an updated RoHS (RoHS-2) regulation to the WTO/TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) committee. The revised regulations would extend the scope of the regulation from "electronic information product" to "electrical and electronic product". The wording for third party certification is modified slightly to "the electrical and electronic products listed in the Management Catalogue will be subject to certification according to the national certification system for the control of pollution caused by electrical and electronic product".

October 7, 2010: Canada - NRCAN proposes date change for standby and external power supply (EPS) regulations. For Standby requirements related to Compact Audio products, Television and Video products, the effective date of manufacture, verification mark and reporting will be delayed to May 1, 2011. For EPS, the effective date of manufacture remains at July 1, 2010; however, verification mark (or performance certification if using Roman Numeral mark) and reporting will be delayed to May 1, 2011.

September 24, 2010: EU - The EU Commission has published its decision to revise the RoHS exemptions. Many of the exemptions were rewritten and/or partitioned to phase out applications that no longer require the use of restricted substances. Several electronic components that were previously RoHS compliant by exemption will become non-compliant and will need to be replaced in RoHS compliant products.

September 23, 2010: Canada - Environment Canada has added Bisphenol-A (BPA) to its list of Toxic Substance (Schedule 1 of CEPA, 1999). BPA is the monomer used for the production of Polycarbonate plastic. The addition of BPA to Schedule 1 allows the Canadian Government to implement restrictions or other measures to manage the substance.

September 13, 2010: Industry - An interim update to the popular Joint Industry Guide (JIG-101 -- Material Composition Declaration for Electrotechnical Products) was published on September 13, 2010. JIG-1010 Ed 3.1 adds three additional substances that were included on the REACH SVHC Candidate List in June 2010: Boric acid; Disodium tetraborate, anhydrous; and tetraboron disodium heptaoxide, hydrate.

August 28, 2010: Canada - Canada published its "Summary of the Draft Screening Assessment Report on Hexabromocyclododecane" (HBCDD) and is considering adding the substance to CEPA Schedule - the list of toxic substances.

August 2010: Canada - The government of Canada has published its final revised risk management strategy for polybrominated diphenyl ethers. The strategy proposes to further broaden the control measures for decaBDE. The new regulations would expand the prohibition to all PBDEs that were assessed (including decaBDE). The government further proposes to develop control measures under CEPA 1999 to restrict PBDEs (including decaBDE in manufactured and imported products.

August, 2010: USA - The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act recently signed into law will require US Electronics manufacturers to report whether or not their products use or contain conflict minerals (or their derivatives) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or an adjoining country. The minerals in question are used to derive metals that are commonly used by the electronics industry: tin, tantalum, tungsten, niobium, or gold. Many electronic components and virtually all complex products will contain these metals.

June 18, 2010: EU - ECHA adds eight substances to the Candidate List for authorisation.
The European Chemical Agency formally added eight additional substances to the SVHC Candidate list. The substances include: Trichloroethylene, Boric acid, Disodium tetraborate, anhydrous, Tetraboron disodium heptaoxide, hydrate, Sodium chromate, Potassium chromate, Ammonium dichromate, Potassium dichromate. Addition of the substance to the candidate list triggers immediate disclosure obligations for manufacturers, importers, and distributors.

June 9, 2010: Canada - proposes new Canada Consumer Product Safety Act
Bill C-36, a revised Consumer Product Safety Act was introduced in the Canadian parliament. It proposes several new obligations and compliance requirements for manufacturers, importers and distributers to improve product safety in Canada.

June 2, 2010: Quebec - Changes to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) mandatory reporting regulation
The Canadian province of Quebec has proposed amendments to it's "Regulation Respecting Mandatory Reporting of Certain Emissions of Contaminants into the Atmosphere" regulation to lower the mandatory reporting threshold to 10,000 metric tonnes of CO2e and to align reporting requirements with the Western Climate Initiative (WCI).

June 2, 2010: EU Parliament ENVI committee approved compromise amendments for recast of RoHS Directive (RoHS-2)
  Key changes are to open scope to all electronics (unless explicitly excluded) and to add organobromine and organochlorine flame retardants, PVC and several other substances for priority consideration of restriction. No additional substances will be initially added to the list of restricted substances.

May 12, 2010: Canada - Substances added to CEPA Schedule 1
Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 is amended by adding five substances and a group of substances to Schedule 1 (List of Toxic Substances) . The substances include Methyloxirane, Ethyloxirane, Naphthalene, Toluene diisocyanates, 1,2-Benzenediol, and 1,4-Benzenediol.

May 5, 2010: Canada - Canadian Lawmakers Pass Climate Change Act
Canada’s House of Commons passed the Climate Change Accountability Act. The legislation will require that greenhouse gas emissions be reduced by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020

April 6, 2010: EU Parliament delays vote on RoHS-2
The EU Parliament vote on RoHS-2 has been delayed due to the large number (339) of amendments proposed by Members of European Parliament (MEPs). Several key issues relate to inclusion of additional substance restrictions and opening the product scope to nearly all electrical and electronic equipment.

March 31, 2010: JIG-101 V3 Released for the Electronics Industry
The Joint Industry Guide Material Composition Declaration for Electronic Products edition 3 was released on March 31, 2010. The standard provides the electronics industry with a common list of regulated substances to be declared by manufacturers and suppliers. Changes were made to the declarable substance listprimarily to reflect the additional substances added to the REACH candidate list and registry of intentions.

March 23, 2010: Revised IPC-1752A Material Declaration standard is Approved
A major revision to the IPC-1752 standard for Material Declaration was approved by the committee on March 15, 2010 and was published on March 23, 2010. IPC-1752 provides the electronics industry and its supply chain with a standard reporting format for material declaration data exchange between supply chain participants.

February 2010: IEC/TR62476 Published - Guidance for evaluation of product with respect to substance-use restrictions
IEC 62476 TR (Guidance for evaluation of product with respect to substance use restrictions in electrical and electronic products) was approved by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in December 2009 and has now been published. The document includes high-level requirements and guidance for restricted substance controls (RSC).