BANNOCKBURN, USA: Like a bolt of lightning, the results of IPC's recent survey on REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) Preparedness in the North American and European interconnect industry are striking: more than 40 percent of manufacturing and purchasing personnel have no understanding of the REACH regulation as it affects their companies. The same holds true for nearly one-third of senior management and 29 percent of engineering personnel. Even 28 percent of environment, health and safety personnel have no understanding of REACH's impact.

The electronic survey, sent to executives throughout the electronic interconnect supply chain in North America and Europe, reveals that even with a deadline for pre-registration of substances quickly approaching, only 18.3 percent of companies have identified and/or inventoried all substances in their products. In addition only 60.5 percent of chemical supplier respondents are planning to register or pre-register substances at all.

In contrast to RoHS, which covers a narrow scope of substances in electronic products encompassing about 100 different chemicals, REACH covers substances in nearly all applications, totaling about 30,000 unique chemicals. While RoHS (Removal of Hazardous Substances) can address entire classes of substances at a time, REACH addresses them each individually. Where RoHS requires supplier-to-customer communications, the REACH regulation makes bidirectional communication throughout the supply chain imperative.

"REACH will have a far-reaching effect on any company that buys sells or uses chemicals," said Tony Hilvers, vice president of industry programs for IPC. "Inevitably, all companies that use chemicals or make products that contain chemicals will be affected …and that pretty much sums up the entire electronics supply chain. The survey clearly indicates that our industry is woefully unprepared for the hit it's about to take."

Stepping up efforts to help electronics companies prepare for REACH, IPC has scheduled a number of programs in the coming months, including a REACH Critical Update Webcast on pre-registration issues for PCB and EMS suppliers, September 18, 2008, 1:30 pm–3:30 pm, Central time. A number of sessions and meetings on REACH and other environmental issues will also take place at IPC Midwest Conference & Exhibition, September 21–25, 2008, at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, Schaumburg, Ill.

In addition, IPC has launched a REACH Supply Chain Task Force to help companies establish a path forward in addressing the impacts of REACH. Representatives from the OEM, EMS, PCB and supplier industries make up the task force. In a recent presentation to the task force, Design Chain Associates' President Michael Kirschner reiterated a warning from a large computer manufacturer that electronics executives should, "As completely as possible, know what chemical substances your product is made of and with … You eventually will be held responsible for every molecule of your product."

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.

Source: IPC