HKPC Urges Industry to Get Ready for

At a seminar jointly organized by the China Quality Certification Centre (CQC), the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and the Centre Testing International (CTI) today (19 September 2006), local manufacturers were urged to prepare for a Mainland regulation governing the use of six hazardous substances in electronic information products.

Entitled "Get Ready for China RoHS", the Seminar aimed to introduce the Mainland's "Measures for Administration of the Pollution Control of Electronic Information Products" to be enforced on 1 March 2007. Considered as the Mainland equivalent of the EU Directive on Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS), this new regulation is commonly known as "China RoHS".

With speakers from CQC, CTI and HKPC, the Seminar presented the requirements of the new regulation, the challenges as well as solutions for compliance for local electronics manufacturers.

Highlighting the significance of the regulation to the local industry, Dr Stephen Lee, Acting Executive Director of HKPC, said, "As Hong Kong's biggest market of electrical and electronics products, the Mainland accounted for close to 50% of our total exports in 2005, with value exceeding HK$530 billion. To secure our foothold in the Mainland market, local industry should step up its adoption of green manufacturing throughout the entire supply chain, from supplier management, material sourcing, production, to staff and customer relationship management for compliance with the 'China RoHS' ."

"To meet the needs of industry, HKPC has launched the Green Manufacturing Express Programme to provide one-stop green manufacturing solutions to speed up industry's compliance with the Mainland and other international environmental regulations. Industry can also obtain the latest update on the developments of these regulations through our Green Manufacturing Network," he said.

Dr Lee also announced the partnership among HKPC, CQC and CTI to assist Hong Kong manufacturers with "China RoHS" compliance. He said, "CQC is a leading certification body of the Mainland's mandatory CCC (China Compulsory Certification) scheme, while CTI is an experienced Mainland expert in product testing for the EU's RoHS compliance. Leveraging on their expertise and HKPC's green manufacturing support services, the collaboration will put Hong Kong manufacturers on the fast track to compliance."

A MOU signing ceremony officiated by Mr Chen Wei, Director of Product Certification, Department One of CQC; Mr Jacky Guo, President of CTI; and Dr Stephen Lee was held at the Seminar to mark the collaboration. Under the collaboration, the three parties will jointly launch a series of programmes to help industries achieve the "China RoHS" requirements.

Other speakers at the Seminar included Mr Chen Wei, Mr Leslie Chen, Chemical Laboratory Director of CTI, and Mr Stephen Tam, Consultant (Electronics Product Innovation) of HKPC.

For further information, please contact Mr Clement Li of HKPC at tel. (852) 2788 5615 or email: clementl@hkpc.org.


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Ms Betty Lee
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19 September 2006