Based on its policy of not purchasing or using any raw materials or parts that contain regulated chemical substances, OMRON achieved full compliance with the RoHS Directive in March 2006. OMRON has also completed a survey for nearly 160,000 items of commercially available raw materials, electronic parts and processed products in Japan and approximately 20,000 items abroad.

The two support systems for the survey of chemical substance contents for parts/materials ( Rechs*1) and for the design of environmentally warranted products ( E-Warps*2) greatly contributed to the elimination of banned substances from OMRON products. Rechs was put into operation in November 2003, while the operation of E-Warps was launched in April 2004.

*1 Rechs: System designed to collect necessary information from suppliers regarding regulated substances contained in parts/materials via the Internet.

*2 E-Warps: System that uses the data collected by Rechs to support product development, assessment and release of information to customers.

In fiscal 2006, OMRON reviewed target chemical substances for survey. This reflected the progress in standardization of the substances and format for survey of electrical and electronic products by the Japan Green Procurement Survey Standardization Initiative (JGPSSI). As such, OMRON reviewed and revised target chemical substance groups in conformance with the JGPSSI's guidelines in December 2006. This resulted in 16 substance groups for which OMRON confirms and warrants non-use.

OMRON has also completely complied with China's Management Methods for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products (Chinese version of RoHS), effective March 2007. The Chinese version requires an indication of whether or not the products contain any of the six substances banned by the European RoHS in labeling or through other means such as product brochures or user manuals.

While continually providing customers with environmentally warranted products through the use of the Rechs and E-Warps systems, OMRON will also strive to respond to upcoming regulations in Europe and other parts of the world.

Supply of Environmentally Warranted Products