As many companies struggle to determine their strategy for meeting the European Union (EU) Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive and other material restrictions, companies throughout the supply chain are being "driven up the wall" with a multitude of differing, detailed requests for information about the precise material content of their products. Customers are already requesting this information from their trading partners as they prepare to comply with the July 1, 2006, RoHS implementation deadline. Many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are requiring their suppliers to declare that supplied products do not contain RoHS restricted substances in amounts exceeding impurity limits. To further complicate matters, the impurity limits apply to each "homogenous material" in an electronic product. Not just each circuit board or component, but each material—solder joint, surface finish, epoxy resin, etc. While it is possible to separate and test each material, it is neither simple nor inexpensive.
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