A european question : RoHS

[Joerg]

Hello Spehro,

Aren't the people who advise on the technical aspects mostly engineers
on loan from large corporations anyhow?

Sometimes I have the feeling that they don't consider advice from
engineers at all.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Paul Burke]

Joerg wrote:

It will hit mostly medium and small biz in Europe. That is why I don't
understand why there wasn't more lobbying effort against it. I mean,
they are usually all members of the chamber of commerce.

We tried that years ago, over the EMC directive. The simmple facts are
that the big guns have much richer lobbies, and the chambers of commerce
are msotly non- electronic and can't be arsed. I gave up on c-o-c after
that. Trade associations, of course, were dominated by the likes of
Plessey at the time.

We're over a barrel with lead. "Everybody knows" lead is bad, you can't
lobby for it, it's like supporting paedophilia. Big firms can negociate
exceptions- for themselves.

Paul Burke

 

[Pooh Bear]

Paul Burke wrote:

Joerg wrote:

It will hit mostly medium and small biz in Europe. That is why I don't
understand why there wasn't more lobbying effort against it. I mean,
they are usually all members of the chamber of commerce.


We tried that years ago, over the EMC directive. The simmple facts are
that the big guns have much richer lobbies,

Rumour has it that the power level of 75W ( to be later reduced to 50W at
some undefined time ) regarding the application of Class D waveforms in the
original IEC1000-3-2 was at the instigation of a certain well known Dutch
company that had an interest in keeping down the price of its portable
colour TVs !

Graham

 

[R.Lewis]

"Spehro Pefhany" <speffSNIP@interlogDOTyou.knowwhat> wrote in message
news:t2d1a1hafdbjegb2davlt6i6co5573v6gs@4ax.com...

On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 19:12:35 GMT, the renowned Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Hello Graham,

It's just an added cost / overhead for Europeans.

It will hit mostly medium and small biz in Europe. That is why I don't
understand why there wasn't more lobbying effort against it. I mean,
they are usually all members of the chamber of commerce.

If that stuff was pulled off here in the US the affected trade groups
would start hurling boulders, peppering their representatives with
letters and so on. Somehow I have the feeling the democratic process in
Europe isn't what it used to be or got lopsided and now leans towards
the bureaucrats.

Aren't the people who advise on the technical aspects mostly engineers
on loan from large corporations anyhow?


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
The ROHS hasn't just sprung up out of the blue - both it and its

implementation date has been known for a long time now.
Many manufacturers, like ourselves, have been steadily working toward 'lead
free' for some time: it has cost virtually nothing and, so far, zero
inconvenience.
Changes have been made but largely when a change was to occur anyway (for
any number of reasons).

Some, I understand, have ignored the implications of the ROHS until (this)
near last minute and then start bleating.
But you always get some who object to any change and/or ignore it and hope
it goes away.

So far its all pretty painless.
Not complete yet in 2 sites but close --- I hope I do not have to eat my
words!!

 

[Joerg]

Hello Paul,

We tried that years ago, over the EMC directive. The simmple facts are
that the big guns have much richer lobbies, and the chambers of commerce
are msotly non- electronic and can't be arsed. I gave up on c-o-c after
that. Trade associations, of course, were dominated by the likes of
Plessey at the time.

Yes, but it is short-sighted. After all, most companies that are now
huge conglomerates have started small. Maybe not in a garage like HP but
close. When they outlive their lifetime like it seems to be the case
with Grundig or Plessey there needs to be some entrepreneurial
succession. If the Europeans regulate their small businesses into
financial failure pretty soon they will look at unemployment numbers yet
unheard of.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com

 

[Paul Burke]

R.Lewis wrote:

Changes have been made but largely when a change was to occur anyway (for
any number of reasons).

So far its all pretty painless.

Rubbish. I regularly get notifications of withdrawn products from
Farnell. That means I have to re- engineer products which use these. In
many cases it's simply a matter of specifying a direct replacement, but
in other cases, electrical specifications or pinout of the replacement
product are different. So I'm spending money for exactly zero return.

The impact is proportionally higher on me than on a large concern that
is regularly re- engineering its product lines for reasons of built-in
obsolescence, fashion etc. Many of the products of smaller firms are
specialist items which have been made for years, and don't need changing
because they fulfill a specific need.

Paul Burke

 

[Paul Burke]

Joerg wrote:

..most companies that are now
huge conglomerates have started small..

And the last thing they want is other small companies to grow to rival
them! They would rather pull up the ladder behind them.

Paul Burke

 

[Pooh Bear]

Joerg wrote:

Hello Paul,

We tried that years ago, over the EMC directive. The simmple facts are
that the big guns have much richer lobbies, and the chambers of commerce
are msotly non- electronic and can't be arsed. I gave up on c-o-c after
that. Trade associations, of course, were dominated by the likes of
Plessey at the time.

Yes, but it is short-sighted. After all, most companies that are now
huge conglomerates have started small. Maybe not in a garage like HP but
close. When they outlive their lifetime like it seems to be the case
with Grundig or Plessey there needs to be some entrepreneurial
succession. If the Europeans regulate their small businesses into
financial failure pretty soon they will look at unemployment numbers yet
unheard of.

My suspicion is that the Brussels bureaucrats are entirely unaware of the
number of small companies. And their value too !

Their directives aren't really too awful for big business to deal with but
'full-blown by the book' compliance with all their regs could require a
full-time compliance officer for a small company that simply can't afford it.
A large company or corporation can easily afford a whole compliance *dept* for
comparison's sake. We make do as best we can by 'doubling up' on our skills.

Graham