Comment: US inches towards RoHS-stlye rules

However, the likelihood of the Environmental Design of Electrical Equipment (EDEE) Act making it into US law seems far from certain.

What is certain is that the attitude of the US government to environmental issues ranging from climate change to mercury usage seems to be changing fundamentally.

An optimistic European view is that at last the US electronics market is on the verge of getting its own hazardous substances regulation.

Europe led the way, China followed suit a year later. If adopted, the US could have its national rules by next July.
So is this another example of the Obama-effect on US environmental policy?

There seems to be a mood in the US industry for some form of home-grown RoHS-style regulation, if only to show that it does not have to be entirely subservient to rules created on the other side of the Atlantic.

The aim of the EDEE proposal, which comes from Texas congressman Michael Burgess, is to harmonise hazardous substances rules being adopted by individual states.

See also: Electronics Weekly’s WEEE Directive In Full Force, a roundup of content related to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations, and a RoHS special, on the European Directive regarding ‘Restriction of Hazardous Substances’.

California and New York are already creating their own rules, and other states are expected to follow.
The main problem for the EDEE proposal is that there seems to be opposition from industry about the details of what is being proposed.

It comes from the electrical industry and so has failed to find universal acceptance in the electronics sector.
There is also contention over the exemptions, which include equipment with voltage rating greater than 300V, medical diagnostic systems and control systems.

But surely this misses the point. US manufacturers are already conforming with hazardous substances legislation in two-thirds of the world market.

As one correspondent pointed out last week, opponents of the legislation should perhaps view EDEE not as a US domestic issue but as an international issue.

“The only thing worse than having to comply with US standards is having to comply with EU standards,” he explained.