China RoHS – first catalog progress

This is a contribution by Gary Nevison, Premier Farnell.

UK: On 9 October 2009, the Chinese Government published the first draft catalog of Electronic Information Products that will be subject to China RoHS substance restrictions.

The draft was published for consultation which ended a month later with the restriction coming into force ten months after the adoption of the legislation, unless changes were made.

Since then it has gone quiet!

Recently, a lawyer suggested that it was not unusual for Chinese legislation to be published and come into force with no announcements, and it can take several months to hear about it.

So, what progress has been made on the first draft which generally covers telephones and printers?

It transpires that it is going through the World Trade Organisation / Technical Barriers to Trade process. This will eventually provide a period where stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment.

So, it appears that the 10 months is not ticking for those manufacturers who will require products to be analysed locally prior to accreditation.

Progress remains slow and it could well be that when we eventually see the second catalogue published, maybe in 2011, that the consumer products theme could continue.