ETH100 Rev.
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Environmentally-friendly use period
The manual must include a statement of the “environmentally friendly use period”. This is
defined as the period of normal use before any hazardous material is released to the
environment. The guidance on how the EFUP is to be calculated is not finalised at the time
of writing. See
http://www.aeanet.org/GovernmentAffairs/qfLeOpAaZXaMxqGjSFbEidSdPNtpT.pdf
for an
unofficial translation of the draft guidance. For our own products, Network Electronics has
chosen to use the
50 year figure
recommended in this draft regulation.
Network Electronics suggests the following statement on An “Environmentally Friendly Use
Period” (EFUP) setting out normal use:
EFUP is the time the product can be used in normal service life without leaking the hazardous materials.
We expect the normal use environment to be in an equipment room at controlled temperature range
(0ºC - 40ºC) with moderate humidity (< 90%, non-condensing) and clean air, not subject to vibration
or shock.
Further, a statement on any hazardous material content, for instance, for a product that uses
some tin/lead solders:
Where a product contains potentially hazardous materials, this is indicated on the product by the
appropriate symbol containing the EFUP. The hazardous material content is limited to lead (Pb) in
some solders. This is extremely stable in normal use and the EFUP is taken as 50 years, by comparison
with the EFUP given for Digital Exchange/Switching Platform in equipment in Appendix A of “General
Rule of Environment-Friendly Use Period of Electronic Information Products”. This is indicated by the
product marking:
50
It is assumed that while the product is in normal use, any batteries associated with real-time clocks or
battery-backed RAM will be replaced at the regular intervals.
The EFUP relates only to the environmental impact of the product in normal use, it does not imply that the
product will continue to be supported for 50 years.
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