LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--element14, a collaborative global electronics community from Premier Farnell plc (LSE:pfl), is providing additional resources and guidance on its comprehensive legislation page to help manufacturers and design engineers to better understand the recent changes made in the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive. An informative free RoHS eBook, which addresses the recent recast changes and live chat with global legislative expert Gary Nevison, are available to demystify and expedite compliance.

While RoHS was put into effect by the European Union (EU) on July 1, 2006, it impacts any electronics manufacturer who is conducting global business. The original directive restricted six substances in the manufacturing of certain categories of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), including IT equipment. The recast, agreed in September 2010, will eventually include category 11, which will include all EEE not captured in categories 1 to 10, unless specifically excluded. The recast also outlines the dates when medical devices and monitoring and control instruments (along with additional exemptions) will fall within scope.

A seasoned product and legislation expert at global electronics distributor Premier Farnell for more than 30 years, Nevison has spoken extensively at legislation and environmental seminars around the world, serves on the Electronic Component Supply Network, and writes popular legislation blogs and articles for major electronics industry publications.

“Current legislation such as RoHS can be complex and often difficult to understand, but scarce information about legislation can cause even greater frustration,” said Gary Nevison, head of legislation and environmental affairs, element14. “The interactive legislation community page, in tandem with element14’s collaborative community of electronic engineers, underscores our commitment to providing as much data and resources possible in one easily accessible location to give engineers and other electronics professionals, the tools they need to succeed.”

The most comprehensive legislation site serving the electronics industry, element14 offers guidance on EU RoHS, China RoHS, Korea RoHS, REACH, ErP, WEEE, the Battery Directive plus state and provincial environmental laws in the US and Canada. Attracting more than 500 visitors per day, the legislation community page is a premier source of information and serves as a portal to connect with industry professionals.

For more information about the RoHS Recast Directive, visit element14’s legislation community page.

About element14

element14 is the first collaborative community and store for design engineers and electronics enthusiasts offering product data, design tools, technology information, and top brand components to seamlessly facilitate the design process. element14 is sponsored by Premier Farnell plc (LSE: pfl), a leader in multi-channel distribution and specialty services for electronic design engineers, trading throughout the Americas (Newark), Europe (Farnell) and Asia-Pacific (element14).

About Premier Farnell

Premier Farnell plc is leading the way in the high service, multi-channel provision of essential products, information, software and technology solutions to electronic design engineers, maintenance and repair engineers and purchasing professionals globally. Its differentiated proposition includes 29 local language transactional websites, and the critically important element14 electronics Community for design engineers – an industry first (www.element14.com). With sales last year of £795.3m and underlying profits of £54.8m the Group distributes its comprehensive portfolio of products and services throughout Europe, North America and Asia Pacific, supported by a global supply chain of over 3,500 suppliers and an inventory profile developed to anticipate and meet its customers’ needs.

While global in scope, Premier Farnell recognises the individual needs of each market and has continued to internationalise its model accordingly, trading locally under different brand names. Its primary electronics businesses trade as Farnell in Europe, Newark in the US, Canada and Mexico and Farnell Newark in Brazil. Across Asia Pacific the business trades as element14.

Key facts

• Operations in 35 different countries
• 4,100 employees
• Over 2 million customer contacts in 156 industries
• Over 3,500 leading suppliers
• Over 400,000 products stocked with access to over four million more on demand
• Global leader in legislation RoHS, WEEE, REACH

For more information visit the website at Premier Farnell.

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Ref: PF360/A

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