SEMI Reminds Members of China RoHS Deadline

The Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International industry organization (SEMI) issued a reminder on China's legal restrictions of hazardous substances (RoHS), saying some of its members need to act before March 1, 2007.

"If you manufacture or import semiconductor and flat panel display manufacturing equipment, components or materials into China, you may be required to meet new environmental labeling requirements by March 1, 2007," the alert reminded readers and went on to point out that China intends to introduce a system of pre-market laboratory testing and certification that is expected to cover the full range of information technology related components and equipment types.

The Chinese regulations, although covering the same substances, are likely to differ from the European ones in detail and equipment and components will need supporting documentation in Chinese, SEMI said. "Do not assume your compliance with, or exclusion from, EU RoHS, will result in compliance with or exclusion from China RoHS," warned SEMI.

The first requirement is the application of environmental labels and being able to provide supporting self-declared information in Chinese for each product covering the same six hazardous substances covered by Europe's RoHS legislation.

The requirement is set out in the "Management Methods for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products" law promulgated by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry on February 28, 2006 — commonly known as China RoHS, SEMI said.

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