Management of Chemical Substances
Management of Chemical Substances in Products
In pursuit of reducing environmental impact of the products of the Group and our customers, as well as improving compliance, the Sumitomo Electric Group is committed to proper management of chemical substances in products. To this end, we implement the “SEI Guidelines for the Management of Chemical Substances in Products” (note), which was established to specify the items to be carried out at each stage of the manufacturing process such as procurement, design, production and quality assurance based on JIS Z7201 "Management of Chemical Substances in Products - Principles and Guidelines".
We have also established the “SEI Standards for Chemical Substance Management,” which are the standards for the management of chemical substances in products to be managed at each of the stages, and implement the “SEI Guidelines for Green Quality Purchases” (note) based on the standards, while conducting product assessment at the design and development stages. Through these initiatives, we strive to prevent hazardous chemical substances with large environmental impact such as mercury and cadmium from being contained in products.
The Sumitomo Electric Group also has the Chemical Management Task Committee in place to enhance coordination within the Group.
(Note) As the types of products and requirements from customers differ greatly between divisions and affiliates, the guidelines and standards are applied flexibly according to their respective circumstances.
Compliance with Regional Regulations on Chemical Substances across the Globe
The Sumitomo Electric Group has taken measures to replace the substances listed in the EU RoHS* and ELV Directives* and is meeting customer demand for products that contain no prohibited substances. For example, we already discontinued the direct use of the four types of phthalates to be banned by the RoHS Directive from 2019 in our products by the end of fiscal 2017 in advance. We are also making efforts to avoid the use of these substances in the parts to be used in our products through cooperation with suppliers.
At the same time, to comply with the REACH* regulation, we are working for final registration of chemical substances one by one as required and completed the registration of gallium arsenide (GaAs) in 2012 and tungsten carbide (WC) in 2017.
We are also making efforts to ensure appropriate responses to the requirements of the REACH regulation including reporting of the SVHC* contained in products.
To quickly respond to progressive tightening of regional regulations on chemical substances across the globe, our group is working to collect information on regulations in Europe, China, Southeast Asia and other countries and share the information within the Group.