Environmental Awareness

Environmental and energy issues have recently received much attention in the world of electronics and electronic equipment. Green electronic products are a worldwide trend and are subject to regulations regarding hazardous substances and waste treatment. More than 180 environmental regulations have been established worldwide, including a few with widespread application: the directive restricting the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (RoHS), the directive on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), and the directive on establishing a framework for the setting of eco-design requirements for energy-using products (EuP). These directives and regulations significantly influence our industry.

Aware of the importance of these green requirements, ASUS has acted accordingly, including reorganizing responsibilities at both the technology and management levels. ASUS has also established, issued, and implemented the ISO documents for a green management standard as well as the technical standard for controlled substances (those that are hazardous or potentially harmful) and the eGreen information platform. Information about controlled substances and their relative standards has also been announced in ASUS's green purchase platform (supplier relation management, SRM). ASUS requires our suppliers to comply with the announcement, and we also host several courses each year to train our employees and suppliers in general green concepts and specific green technologies.

Starting from Jan 1st, 2006, 100% ASUS branded models (products and components) designed and manufactured at all ASUS' sites are GreenASUS models which are also RoHS compliant.
For Korea RoHS "Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles", please see the Korea RoHS Section.

Hazardous Chemical Substance Management

To safeguard human health and the environment, ASUS uses all chemical substances carefully. We obey regulations that control their use, and we require our suppliers to restrict or forbid their use. ASUS defines a hazardous chemical substance as a material characterized by persistent, bio-accumulative, toxic, carcinogenic, or mutagenic features, as well as possible reproductive toxicity or environmental hormone disruption.

To manage the use of hazardous chemical substances, ASUS has complied with the RoHS directive restraining the use of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, and polybrominated diphenylethers. Furthermore, we have restricted the use of nickel and nickel compounds, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and PVC blends, tetrabromobisphenol-A, chlorinated organic compounds, ozone-depleting substances, and radioactive substances. The ASUS Hazardous Material Management Standard also controls the use of battery and packaging materials.

The main principle of ASUS's environmental policy regarding the RoHS requirement is management of sources - that is, of the enormous supplier chain. We can limit variation in supply as long as the sources are predominantly green. Therefore, vendors of components must provide hazardous substances warranty letters, component composition information, and third-party test reports for further approval. To improve efficiency, an eGreen platform, SRM, is used to support an electronic component approval process to exchange the required data.

ASUS's Controlled Hazardous Substances

REACH

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Regulation (EC)No 1907/2006 is a European Union chemical regulatory framework that entered into force on 1 June 2007. REACH is based on the belief that industry itself should be responsible for ensuring that the chemicals it manufactures and puts on the market in the EU do not adversely affect the health of those workers exposed to them through their employment, the public who come in contact with them as users, or the environment. REACH will also simplify the control of chemicals in the European market place and replaces a large number of other directives with a single system of registration, evaluation and authorization.

SVHC

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has included 15 substances of very high concern (SVHC) in the 'Candidate List' which was published on the ECHA website on October 2008. Those SVHC might have the following characteristic(s):
‧Carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction (CMR)
‧Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (PBT) or very Persistent, very Bioaccumulative (vPvB)
‧Proven to be seriously harmful to the human body or to the environment, and the hazardous level is the same as those of the previous stated substances. e.g. Endocrine Disrupters

Article 33 Duty to communicate information on substances in articles

According to Article 33 of REACH, the manufacturer has the obligation to provide sufficient information to the consumer/recipient of the article if Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) of candidate list are contained in its products in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w).

The below mentioned SVHC may be contained in the listed articles in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight.

You can download the information HERE.

REACH SVHC Candidate List

Please visit http://echa.europa.eu/ for the latest Candidate List under "ECHA CHEM".

REACH Dangerous Substances List

Korea RoHS - Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles

Korean regulatory requirement "Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles" entered into force on Jan 1st, 2008. It requires manufacturers and importers of those products to comply with Restriction of Hazardous Substances and to take responsibility in product recycle.

ASUS' Products are classified as electrical and electronic equipments and are in complied with the restriction identified in Article 11. The information can be found HERE.