Since 2003, the electronics industry sector has gained experience reporting RoHS (Restriction on Hazardous Substances) chemicals for products that it sells into the European Union (EU). Now these companies have to engage in a new, but similar, requirement for reporting Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) in the EU: the Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) database, which entered into force on January 5, 2021.
After years of RoHS reporting, what can the electronics industry learn from its experiences to better position itself for SCIP reporting?
There are some best practices and lessons learned from the RoHS experience that many electronics companies are now using to prepare for the changes. Below is a summary of how these experiences can be applied to prepare for the new SCIP reporting requirements.
Lead Remains a Focus for SCIP Reporting in Electronics
Since 2003, the RoHS Directive has regulated hazardous materials in electronics within the EU. The first group of chemicals to be regulated were lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and certain flame retardants. In later versions of RoHS, certain phthalates were also added.
Out of those substances, lead has always been the most prominent member of the original group because of its prevalence in electronics, mainly due to its use in solders. The RoHS Directive became known by many as the “Lead-Free Directive” due to its emphasis on the reporting and removal of lead from electronics products.
In 2018, ECHA added lead to the REACH SVHC Candidate List, which then opened the door to it being included as a SCIP-reportable substance. This essentially aligned the RoHS and SCIP reporting requirements in terms of the most common reportable substance in electronics.
However, while lead reporting will remain a focus, the importance of other RoHS reportable substances, such as hexavalent chromium, which also appears on the REACH SVHC Candidate List, should not be overlooked.
Importance of IPC Family of Standards in Electronics SCIP Reporting
Electronics suppliers are familiar with the IPC family of hazardous substances reporting standards from their experience with RoHS reporting. IPC 1751A already provides the basic supplier/requestor details for material content declarations. To help companies collect the necessary SCIP information from their supply chains, IPC published the new IPC-1752B supply chain data exchange standard on July 1, 2020.
The IPC-1752B materials declaration standard is applicable to electronics products and provides a format matching the data requirements of the SCIP database. The standard includes new functionality which enables reporting different products with different types of materials declarations, known as declaration classes, in the same XML file. This allows electronics suppliers to report sub-products using different declaration classes, providing different levels of detail about the materials in the articles.
IPC also maintains an Implementation List for use with the IPC-1752B standard, including the lists of RoHS substance restrictions, REACH Candidate List Substances of Very High Concern, REACH Substance Restrictions and RoHS Exemptions. As of December 2020, 97% of the data submitted into SCIP used the IPC 1752B standard to collect data from supply chains, reflecting the importance the IPC family of standards will maintain in SCIP reporting for electronics going forward.
Third-Party RoHS Software Solutions with Upgrades for SCIP
For electronics companies who currently use a third-party vendor to manage their RoHS submissions, soon there may be a system-to-system capability available, which will save a significant amount of manual data manipulation. Each vendor is in a different stage of implementing its system-to-system capabilities. The IPC standards development website lists vendors who currently support 1752A and could possibly support 1752B in the future.
Numerous other vendors can also support electronics SCIP reporting and may also be working on developing capabilities for system-to-system data transfer from their databases into the SCIP database. Tetra Tech has experience implementing data collection and data migration for the majority of these vendor solutions and can help you select a technology or optimize the use of your current third-party or internal SVHC database(s).
More SCIP Database Considerations for Electronics Suppliers
Beyond IPC standards and third-party software considerations, there are other factors your company should consider when determining how to proceed with SCIP reporting for electronics.
- Safe-use instructions may be available from Safety Data Sheets which you may receive from your raw materials suppliers.
- New Candidate List substances and engineering changes to your components will require a change management process, so you will need to establish a way of synchronizing your RoHS submission workflow with your SCIP reporting workflow. One element in this process could be to capture the SCIP ID Number in your existing RoHS workflow. Doing this means you would not have to re-enter a supplier part multiple times but can instead use the SCIP ID Number as a primary key to identify the record throughout your databases.
- For an example of one way to capture RoHS data for input into SCIP, see Tetra Tech’s SCIP Training Module 16 for the electronics industry.
Get SCIP Reporting Support
The electronics industry faces unique challenges for SCIP reporting. However, much work has been completed by industry groups, subject matter experts, third party vendors and industry-leading global companies to prepare companies in the electronics industry for a smoother transition. While the new requirements are significant, careful planning can enable most companies to leverage existing templates, tools and processes to avoid a wholesale re-engineering of the compliance approach.
Now is the time to prepare your roadmap for transitioning your data and avoiding the redundancies that could occur if you overlook the data which you already have available at your fingertips. Contact Tetra Tech at scip@tetratech.com for help in preparing for SCIP reporting, to learn more about the best practices that are emerging in the electronics industry on this new requirement, or to learn about our training program for SCIP database reporting.
Beginning in September 2021, Tetra Tech’s online SCIP training will include a module with more details on using iPoint Compliance SCIP Connector to integrate your existing solutions, leveraging available data and making it easier for you to bulk transfer data into SCIP. Learn more about the training here.
This post by AJ Guikema, Environmental Compliance Discipline Leader at Tetra Tech, was first published on the Tetra Tech Sustainable Market Blog.
- Products & Solutions (99)
- Trends & Technology (99)
- News & Updates (68)
- Challenges (67)
- Sustainability (48)
- life cycle assessment (44)
- Compliance (29)
- Energy efficiency (29)
- carbon footprint (23)
- circular economy (23)
- echa (21)
- Resource efficiency (19)
- SCIP (19)
- LCA (18)
- material efficiency (18)
- Umberto (17)
- Climate Change (16)
- Material flow cost accounting (15)
- material flow analysis (12)
- Renewable energy (11)
- Process Optimization (10)
- environmental product declaration (9)
- Ecodesign (8)
- Efficiency (8)
- Transparency (8)
- Trends (8)
- life cycle inventory (8)
- Customer driven-sustainability (7)
- Eco label (7)
- Ecological footprint (7)
- Ipoint suite (7)
- Lca databases (7)
- Supply chain (7)
- Survey (7)
- Sustainable development (7)
- automotive (7)
- blockchain (7)
- Reach (6)
- Renewable heat (6)
- research (6)
- China (5)
- Corporate carbon footprint (5)
- Digitalization (5)
- Industrial ecology (5)
- Materialflusskostenrechnung (5)
- carbon footprinting (5)
- carbon neutrality (5)
- digital product passport (5)
- waste management (5)
- Climate protection (4)
- Cobalt reporting (4)
- Dematerialization (4)
- EPD (4)
- GHG reduction (4)
- Green construction (4)
- OECD (4)
- Okobilanzierung (4)
- Social metabolism (4)
- Sustainable transport (4)
- carbon neutral (4)
- construction industry (4)
- germany (4)
- Big Data (3)
- Brexit (3)
- Chemical industry (3)
- Conflict minerals (3)
- Corporate Social Responsibility (3)
- Database (3)
- Due diligence (3)
- E-mobility (3)
- Environmental product declarations (3)
- Eutrophication (3)
- IFEU (3)
- ISO 50001 (3)
- Industrial sector (3)
- Innovation (3)
- Leed (3)
- Life cycle management (3)
- Medical device (3)
- Photovoltaics (3)
- Ressourceneffizienz (3)
- Social media (3)
- building sector (3)
- greenhouse gas inventory (3)
- svhc (3)
- transport sector (3)
- water footprint (3)
- 20-20-20 Objectives (2)
- 3D printing (2)
- BASF (2)
- Christian-Doppler-Laboratory (2)
- Competence center (2)
- Conflict minerals reporting (2)
- Cycling (2)
- E-car (2)
- Electric car (2)
- Emerging economies (2)
- Environmental impact (2)
- Environmental management (2)
- Environmental performance (2)
- Environmental sustainability index (2)
- European commission (2)
- Fish (2)
- Gate to gate (2)
- Global warming (2)
- Governance (2)
- Green business 2 (2)
- Green investment (2)
- Human rights (2)
- ISO-14051 (2)
- Inatba (2)
- Integrated reporting (2)
- Integrative approach (2)
- Knowledge economy (2)
- LCA data from suppliers (2)
- Life cycle thinking (2)
- MFA (2)
- Manufacturing industry (2)
- Okobilanz (2)
- Renewable Resources (2)
- Sdgs (2)
- Software (2)
- Steady state economy (2)
- Sustainable business (2)
- Sustainable lifestyle (2)
- UK REACH (2)
- Umberto for carbon footprint (2)
- Umweltbundesamt (2)
- Wastewater treatment (2)
- Water management (2)
- agriculture (2)
- best practice (2)
- biodiversity (2)
- biomass (2)
- building standards (2)
- carbon emissions (2)
- carbon intensity (2)
- carbon relocation (2)
- collaborative consumption (2)
- consistency (2)
- corporate material flow modeling (2)
- cost savings (2)
- developing world (2)
- eLCAr (2)
- energiewende (2)
- energy (2)
- esankey (2)
- food industry (2)
- green jobs (2)
- holistic approach (2)
- milk (2)
- modern slavery (2)
- okobilanzdaten (2)
- productivity (2)
- resilience (2)
- sankey diagram (2)
- seafood (2)
- transport (2)
- 2012 (1)
- 3 scopes (1)
- ACHEMA (1)
- AI (1)
- Abfallwirtschaft (1)
- Ankara (1)
- B2B (1)
- BMBF (1)
- BREEAM (1)
- Bachelor program (1)
- Bauwesen (1)
- Brazil (1)
- CFC (1)
- CO2-Fußabdruck (1)
- Carbon Accounting (1)
- Central america (1)
- Circular Economy Action Plan (1)
- Club of Rome (1)
- Co2 Pricing (1)
- Commercial Sector (1)
- Comparative life cycle assessment (1)
- Compliance agent (1)
- Composite indicator (1)
- Construction (1)
- Consumer goods (1)
- Consumption (1)
- Country Attractiveness (1)
- Creative sustainability (1)
- Critique of the green economy (1)
- Csr report (1)
- Dairy (1)
- Dashboard of sustainability (1)
- Data (1)
- Data collection (1)
- Davos (1)
- Decarbonization (1)
- Denmark (1)
- Design (1)
- Deutschland (1)
- Developing countries (1)
- Dienstleistungen (1)
- Digital twin (1)
- Distributed manufacturing (1)
- Divestment (1)
- Domestic fuel consumption (1)
- Domestic sector (1)
- Duty of care (1)
- Earth Sciences (1)
- Earth summit (1)
- Ecolabelling (1)
- Ecologic footprint (1)
- Ecological resilience (1)
- Education (1)
- Efficiency measures (1)
- Effizienzfabrik (1)
- Ehs (1)
- Emission relocation (1)
- Ems (1)
- Energieeffizienz (1)
- Energy Intensity by Sector (1)
- Energy contracting (1)
- Energy efficiency directive (1)
- Energy transition (1)
- Engineering excellence (1)
- Enhipro (1)
- Environment (1)
- Environmental Contracting (1)
- Environmental Engineering (1)
- Environmental balance (1)
- Environmental capital (1)
- Environmental labeling (1)
- Environmental management accounting (1)
- Environmental profit and loss statement (1)
- Environmental standard (1)
- Environmentally Weighed Material Consumption (1)
- European Comission (1)
- European Green Cars Initiative (1)
- Evaleau (1)
- Events (1)
- External effects (1)
- Fifa (1)
- Fishery (1)
- Fmd (1)
- Food footprint (1)
- Food production (1)
- Ford (1)
- Forest ecosystems (1)
- France (1)
- Free trade (1)
- Freighter travel (1)
- Full cost accounting (1)
- GHG mitigation (1)
- Ghg reduction goals (1)
- Global compact (1)
- Global justice (1)
- Global warming potential (1)
- Green building (1)
- Green business models (1)
- Green consumers (1)
- Green deal (1)
- Green new deal (1)
- Greenwash (1)
- HVAC (1)
- Happy life years (1)
- Harmonization (1)
- Harze (1)
- Hdpe (1)
- Human development index (1)
- Human trafficking (1)
- ILCD Handbook (1)
- IPCA (1)
- IPCC (1)
- ISO 14015 (1)
- ISO 14031 (1)
- ISO 14064 (1)
- ISO 14067 (1)
- ISO-14000 (1)
- ISO-14008 (1)
- ISO-14025 (1)
- ISO-14046 (1)
- Impact category (1)
- Incentive (1)
- Incentive based pay (1)
- Incineration (1)
- India (1)
- Industry-4-0 (1)
- Information design (1)
- Input output (1)
- Input output databases (1)
- Input output economics (1)
- Inreff (1)
- Intellectual property (1)
- Internalization of externalities (1)
- International standards (1)
- Interplant collaboration (1)
- Iso 14001 (1)
- Jevons paradox (1)
- Klimawandel (1)
- Konsumguter (1)
- Kuznets curve (1)
- LIFE AskREACH (1)
- Lieferkettengesetz (1)
- Life cycle analysis (1)
- Life cycle perspective (1)
- Life style (1)
- Linkedin (1)
- Living planet report (1)
- Long-Term Pay (1)
- Material consumption (1)
- Material flow modeling (1)
- Material flowcosts (1)
- Material footprint (1)
- Medical device regulation (1)
- Metal industry (1)
- Mexico (1)
- Monetize external costs (1)
- Montreal Protocol (1)
- Municipal solid waste (1)
- Natural Cost Accounting (1)
- Nature conservation (1)
- Nitrate pollution (1)
- Nutrients balance (1)
- Nutrients cycle (1)
- OECD Environment Policy Committee (1)
- Okobilanzdatenbanken (1)
- Okolabelling (1)
- Okologischer fusabdruck (1)
- Online Resource Efficiency Platform OREP (1)
- Operational efficiency (1)
- Outsourcing (1)
- PET (1)
- Pas (1)
- Pcf (1)
- Philippines (1)
- Pilot program (1)
- Plastic industry (1)
- Polio (1)
- Pollution haven hypothesis (1)
- Process engineering (1)
- Process improvement (1)
- Process system engineering (1)
- Product management (1)
- Product stewardship (1)
- Product sustainability (1)
- Production based CO2 Productivity (1)
- Production planning (1)
- Produktlebensdauer (1)
- Prop 65 (1)
- Protection proprietary data (1)
- Qatar (1)
- Quality (1)
- Quality journalism (1)
- Rapid prototyping (1)
- Refuse derived fuel plant (1)
- Renewable energy in manufacturing (1)
- Renewable methane (1)
- Renewable process heat (1)
- Renewable raw material (1)
- Resource flows (1)
- Retailer (1)
- Rio20 summit (1)
- Rolf Dobelli (1)
- Sap (1)
- Sfdr (1)
- Shopping rage (1)
- Smart grid (1)
- Social ecological resilience (1)
- Solar thermal energy (1)
- Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz (1)
- South africa (1)
- Soy milk (1)
- Stakeholder management (1)
- Supermarket chain (1)
- Sustainability indicators (1)
- Sustainability performance (1)
- Sustainability strategy (1)
- Sustainable architecture (1)
- Sustainable construction (1)
- Sustainable living (1)
- Sustainable process index (1)
- Sustainable resins (1)
- Sustainable resource management (1)
- Sydney (1)
- System analysis (1)
- Telecommunications (1)
- Tobias viere (1)
- Total material consumption (1)
- Treibhauspotenzial (1)
- Turkey (1)
- UK CA (1)
- University (1)
- Upcycling (1)
- VDMA (1)
- Vertical cooperation (1)
- Waste prevention (1)
- Water abstraction rate (1)
- Water extraction (1)
- Wind power (1)
- World cup (1)
- World vegan day (1)
- Yet (1)
- Zero carbon city (1)
- Zero emission mobility (1)
- academia (1)
- acidification (1)
- air quality (1)
- aluminum (1)
- amazon (1)
- antarctic ozone hole (1)
- apocalypse (1)
- apple (1)
- assessment (1)
- atmospheric carbon measurement (1)
- background database (1)
- battery change station (1)
- bike sharing (1)
- bio capacity (1)
- bio-economy (1)
- biocapacity (1)
- biological gas treatment (1)
- blogs (1)
- books (1)
- business opportunity (1)
- car (1)
- carbon free city (1)
- carbon leakage (1)
- carbon management (1)
- carbon management 2 (1)
- carbon reduction (1)
- carbon tax (1)
- carbon-neutral travel (1)
- cargo shipping (1)
- carton (1)
- certification (1)
- change (1)
- climate impact (1)
- climate neutral (1)
- co2 fusabdruck (1)
- cogeneration (1)
- combined reporting (1)
- commons (1)
- cooperation along product (1)
- cradle to cradle (1)
- de-growth economy (1)
- digital battery passport (1)
- ecarus (1)
- eco design (1)
- ecoinvent (1)
- ecological tax reform (1)
- ecosystem disturbance (1)
- efficiency investment (1)
- efficient construction (1)
- energy efficiency in production (1)
- energy sources (1)
- environmental accounting (1)
- environmental impact data (1)
- environmental management system (1)
- environmental performance indicator (1)
- environmental technology verification (1)
- environmentally friendly raw materials (1)
- esg (1)
- fashion (1)
- food loss (1)
- food sector (1)
- geopolymer cement (1)
- green Christmas (1)
- green buildings (1)
- green paradox (1)
- green production (1)
- greenhouse (1)
- handprinting (1)
- holistic sustainability (1)
- lca recommendations (1)
- lca-software (1)
- lcia (1)
- lifecycle (1)
- logitech (1)
- management models (1)
- material flow balance (1)
- material losses (1)
- material-flow-accounts (1)
- media (1)
- modeling (1)
- nuclear phase out (1)
- policy instruments (1)
- politics (1)
- post oil age (1)
- product environmental footprint (1)
- production circle (1)
- ressource efficiency analysis (1)
- saving potentials (1)
- scope 3 (1)
- season's greetings (1)
- smart meter (1)
- social cost accounting (1)
- stranded assets (1)
- sustainability control (1)
- sustainability projects (1)
- sustainable products (1)
- tajikistan (1)
- textile industry (1)
- textile refinement (1)
- toyota (1)
- trade (1)
- transport emissions (1)
- uk-rohs (1)
- umweltbilanz (1)
- urban carbon emissions (1)
- velib (1)
- volvo (1)
- waste air treatment (1)
- waste hierarchy (1)
- wastewater (1)
- water stress (1)
- wind gas (1)
- world statistics day (1)
- zero growth (1)
- Ökologischer Fußabdruck (1)