Companies still ill-prepared for compliance, especially with RoHS
By Debra Bulkeley
Executive Editor — Electronic Business
8/8/2006
RoHS has been in effect for more than a month. Can you confidently report that your products are compliant, based on a complete and accurate product compliance record?
If you answered “no,” you are hardly alone. According to a RoHS readiness survey Arena Solutions conducted, 65 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t be able to confidently report compliance based on an accurate compliance record.
More than 200 manufacturers (not Arena customers, the company says) responded to the survey, which was launched online on April 30 and asked participants to identify and assess risk based on 16 key capabilities related to tracking, documenting and reporting of RoHS compliance.
According to the survey results, 83 percent of respondents were at severe to high risk of not being able to demonstrate compliance or due diligence for RoHS based on their documentation management capabilities.
When it comes to compliance in general, a large percentage of companies just plain don’t understand the regulations, according to research from Aberdeen Group. The market research firm found in its own survey that two thirds of product companies lack insight into the regulatory, environmental and operational rules that affect their products—let alone being positioned to measure and comply with these requirements. Aside from not understanding the regulations that apply to them, Aberdeen Group also found that nearly 80 percent of companies lack a cohesive systems infrastructure to track, audit or manage product compliance.
Why are companies so ill prepared to comply with regulations, particularly RoHS?
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