Supply chain must rally to protect proprietary technologies
By Diane Trommer
In March 2007, the Chinese government will begin enforcing its version of the RoHS environmental regulation. Termed the “Administrative Measure on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products,” China’s RoHS mandate represents more than just another administrative challenge to members of the electronics supply chain, according to Robin Gray, executive director of the National Electronic Distributors Association (NEDA), Alpharetta, Ga. In fact, Gray cautions that compliance with the China RoHS directive could put manufacturers’ and suppliers’ intellectual property (IP) at even more risk for piracy than it already is.
Electronics firms doing business in China need to be aware that while China RoHS targets the same substances restricted by the EU RoHS directive, the China policy stipulates that compliance can only be verified by testing done in accredited Chinese laboratories. “So these labs will know the composition of the product down to the most minute detail,” Gray explains. “Any intellectual property, with respect to alloys or chemical content, is going to be documented by these labs.”
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