IPC International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment Offers Roadmap to Regulatory Compliance

Keeping on top of ever-changing environmental regulations around the world and understanding how those regulations impact electronics manufacturers and their suppliers are the first steps on the long and winding road to compliance. Providing a roadmap to compliance, the IPC It's Not Easy Being Green Symposium, May 11–12, 2011, in Boston, Mass., will give companies up-to-date information on the laws and regulations that affect every link of the electronics manufacturing supply chain, from Europe and Asia to South America and the United States.

More than a series of lectures, the It's Not Easy Being Green Symposium will provide attendees with an interactive experience to engage in the discussions with speakers who embrace different points of view. Environmental experts from electronics companies, nongovernmental organizations, government and academia will share their unique perspectives on environmental regulations. On the agenda — Europe’s REACH Regulation and revised RoHS Directive, California’s Safer Consumer Product Alternatives Regulation, and the TSCA Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) Rule as well as the U.S. Conflict Minerals regulation that requires reporting by companies whose products contain tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold.

Best of all, companies that have implemented successful programs for complying with a variety of regulations impacting the electronics industry — IBM, Philips Healthcare, and Weidmüller Interface GmbH & Co. KG — will share valuable information on their compliance efforts, describing what worked and what didn’t, as well as their respective companies’ roadmaps toward implementing successful compliance programs. Helpful tools to support environmental compliance efforts will also be covered at the symposium, including the IPC-1752A materials declaration standard.

In addition to providing updates on existing laws and regulations, the symposium will provide insight into how the electronics industry is addressing a variety of nonregulatory requirements driven by customers. These customer requirements often exceed regulations in areas such as carbon footprinting and energy efficiency, sustainability, and halogen-free. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a diverse panel discussion on the meaning of this decade’s buzzword, sustainability, and use the latest participation technology during an informative debate on the environmental benefits of halogen-free electronics.

As an added benefit for attendees, exhibits from companies specializing in environmental compliance and data management systems will be on display. Company representatives will be on hand to answer questions and share information.

For more information and to register for the IPC It's Not Easy Being Green symposium, visit http://www.ipc.org/green-symposium.

IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global trade association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 2,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $1.85 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Arlington, Va.; Garden Grove, Calif.; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore, India; and Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, China.