Australia adopts RoHS

Australian EMS companies are getting ready for RoHS but there is still some issues to straighten out. “EMS providers need to be well versed in RoHS laws so that they can assure their customers and European regulators of compliance,” Australian EMS provider GPC Electronics´ VP Andrew Greatbatch told ferret.com.au. “RoHS compliance means that the seller must ensure and be able to provide supporting evidence that their products don't contain any of the restricted substances. Gathering, storing and reporting component composition information is tedious, but crucial if you have to provide a defence,” Greatbach said. “For GPC Electronics this meant an extensive implementation in SAP setting up the systems to collect all the data. All information is stored electronically, and can be recalled quickly if required”, he added. Some companies are letting other companies go ahead and will learn from their eventual misstakes. Such as Sydney-based Benetron. Ben Douchkov, manager of Sydney-based electronic equipment and design manufacturer Benetron, is taking a cautious approach when it comes to working with lead-free components. He said the company has some customers who require lead-free products and it has done some sample runs. But he is hesitant to do a mass conversion to RoHS-compliance processes as he has seen “hic-ups” with some of the new parts. “I have a gut feeling that some lead-free parts will be faulty and mistakes will be made during the conversion to the new processes,” Bentron´s Manager Ben Douchkov told ferret.com.au. “We are hanging back a little to see what happens. We are letting others go ahead and we will learn from their mistakes”, he added.