The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA), the Japan Green Procurement Survey Standardization Initiative (JGPSSI) and JEDEC have published the first international standard for product material content reporting. The Joint Industry Guide for Material Composition Declaration for Electronic Products will harmonize the disclosure of material content data across the electronics supply chain.

Developed by EIA and JGPSSI, and standardized using JEDEC procedures, the standard was motivated by the trend toward international environmental regulations that restrict the use of certain substances. The most well-known of these regulations is the EU’s RoHS Directive, which will take effect in 2006, and will ban the use of specific materials that have traditionally been used in electronics manufacture.

The Guide provides a standardized list of materials that must be disclosed when present in products and subparts that are supplied to electrical and electronic equipment manufacturers for incorporation into their products. The list will benefit suppliers and their commercial customers by providing consistency and efficiency in the material declaration process. It will also encourage the development of consistent data exchange formats and tools to facilitate data transfer along the global supply chain.

Issues covered include:

Targeted lists of materials and substances for disclosure;

The composition amount or "threshold level" that requires disclosure for particular materials and substances;

Regulatory requirements that establish threshold levels, where appropriate;

Data fields for information exchange.

Available free of charge at www.eia.org/jig.