Companies are fudging the move to RoHS compliance this summer by insisting to contract manufacturers that their products are exempt even when this may not be certain.

A senior executive at one contract manufacturer told the press: “Perhaps as many as 90 percent of customers are telling us that they do not need lead-free processes because their products are exempt.” He added that there is nervousness in the industry due to the number and range of application-specific exemptions to the RoHS directive.
 
It appears that as the July deadline for compliance with the directive approaches, the expected widespread adoption of the lead-free processes already being offered by manufacturers is not happening.

At another contract manufacturing firm, SMS Electronics, sales and marketing director Chris Hunt said: “We have had customers move very quickly, bringing in specialist resource to achieve RoHS compliance only to abandon it based on a revised belief that they can achieve exemption.”

One of the categories not covered by RoHS is for monitoring and control instruments, which can be interpreted as applying to a wide range of products.

As a result there is an increased level of uncertainty within some firms, which do not know whether their products are really exempt. “There have been customers who have aimed for an exemption only to find that they are not eligible and have had to play catch-up very quickly,” added Hunt.

The existence of true exemptions means manufacturers will be running RoHS-compliant and non-complaint processes and procurement side by side long after the July deadline.

This raises availability issues for non-compliant parts which can be used for legitimate exempt products. “A concern is the availability of material for both processes and whether the older leaded parts will be readily available after the transition to lead-free,” said Hunt.

By: DocMemory
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