China WEEE Will Enter into Force on January 1, 2011; Thailand RoHS Update

According to information received from Botsford EcoTech Partners, China's regulation for the management of the recycling and disposal of waste electrical and electronic products (WEEE) will enter into force on January 1, 2011. To date, there is no clear definition of what products will fall under the China WEEE scope and there is pressure on the Chinese government bodies to issue a WEEE catalogue of products.

Manufactures will likely need to contribute to an overall recycling fund to subsidize the costs of WEEE disposal - though there are no additional details available at this time. Unlike EU WEEE, China WEEE has no collection/takeback schemes; no labeling requirement (crossed out wheeled bin); and no thresholds or rates of recovery requirements.

Meanwhile, the new Thai standard on RoHS-conformity marking became effective quietly in February 2009. The standard is non-binding. Under Thai law, there is no requirement to comply with this voluntary standard. The benefit for a company of complying is that products may be marked, which may help in marketing.

The standard was promulgated in the Royal Gazette with TIS reference number TIS 2368-2551 (2008), under the title "Electrical and electronic equipment that may contain hazardous substances: restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances." Equipment that falls within the scope of the standard is basically the same as the EU RoHS directive.

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