UN meeting addresses hazards in electronic products

AUSTRIA: Experts gathered in Vienna on April 13 to make recommendations for a United Nations process on reducing and eliminating hazardous chemicals in the design, manufacturing and end of life stages of electronic products.

Delegates of the UN meeting developed key recommendations which include:

• eliminating chemical hazards during design, phasing-out currently used hazardous substances,
• improving information transparency and flow, ensuring equal protection of workers, communities, and consumers,
• preventing export of hazardous electronic wastes from developed to developing countries
• controlling export and import of near end of life equipment, and
• taking the special needs of Small Island Developing States into account.

Recognizing that many challenges need to be resolved through improved design of new products, recommendations were made on eliminating chemicals of concern, full ingredient disclosure, identifying and implementing substitution strategies, green procurement and extended producer responsibility.

The international workshop on hazardous substances within the lifecycle of electronic and electrical products was organized by the Secretariats to the Basel and Stockholm Conventions and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which hosted the meeting in Vienna. The workshop is part of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), a global strategy and policy framework to establish sound management of hazardous chemicals and wastes by 2020.

Delegates included more than 30 government representatives from both manufacturing countries and countries affected by electronic wastes along with representatives from the private sector and public interest NGOs. The workshop’s recommendations will be provided for consideration in SAICM regional meetings, a working group meeting in August, and at the 3rd International Conference on Chemicals Management in 2012.

The UN organizers invited key resource people to begin the meeting with presentations to inform delegates of current issues. Soon, presentations as well as the recommendations should be posted here: http://www.basel.int/meetings/wrks-eew-unido/index.html