UL Announces Restricted Substances Compliance Solutions (RSCS)

Dec 1, 2004 12:53 PM
Edited by PETech Staff

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) has announced a new program to help organizations meet the European Union's strict Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive for electronics manufacturers scheduled to go into effect in July 2006. The UL RSCS Program tests and monitors six substances targeted by the RoHS directive, including lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (Cr+6), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). UL's RSCS Program helps companies self-declare compliance with the RoHS Directive.

"Companies that fail to comply with RoHS may face severe consequences," said Maxime Elbaz, general manager of the UL RSCS Program. "Aside from the potential loss of sales resulting from non-compliant products, these companies may also face criminal and civil penalties."

The UL RSCS Program is designed to help companies from a number of industries impacted by RoHS, including appliances, components, consumer electronics, information technology, telecommunications, plastics, and wire and cable. The UL RSCS Program can help original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) monitor the compliance of supply-chain partners, reduce the investment associated with internal compliance efforts and identify compliant substitution options. For suppliers, teaming with UL offers several benefits. The UL RSCS Program helps streamline the reporting process by providing a single report available on-line, thus reducing costs and complexity. In addition, suppliers participating in the UL RSCS Program are more attractive to OEMs by demonstrating their proactive commitment to manage compliance efforts through a globally recognized third party such as UL.

There are three main program elements:

• Testing of Homogeneous Products. UL provides global testing of elements in the RoHS directive through a combination of UL facilities, UL qualified laboratories and UL qualified customer labs.
• RCSC Database. UL RSCS offers companies a password-protected database to help organizations manage their restricted substances test data. The database is comprised of specific manufacturer-supplied parts numbers and the corresponding test data.
• Surveillance Of Global Supply Partners. UL uses an extensive global network of compliance engineers to visit RSCS customers twice each year. UL surveillance provides a check on the means a manufacturer uses to determine its compliance with the RoHS Directive given any changes in materials, suppliers or manufacturing processes.

For more information about UL RSCS, download the free white paper, "Restricted Substances Compliance: Implications and Strategies," by visiting www.ul-rscs.com or call UL Customer Service at 877-854-3577.

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