Intermec To Meet July 6 EU Environmental Directive Deadlines

June 1, 2005
Intermec Technologies Corp. (Everett, Wash.) reports that the company will meet the July 6, 2006 deadline for compliance with the European Union's Restriction

Intermec Technologies Corp. (Everett, Wash.) reports that the company will meet the July 6, 2006 deadline for compliance with the European Union's Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directive, as well as the December, 2006 deadline for the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

Intermec products, which include RFID technology, mobile computing systems, and bar code printers, offered for sale in the E.U. after July 6, 2006 will comply with the RoHS and WEEE directives. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2005, new products released for sale will be compliant with RoHS and Intermec will have completed implementation processes for WEEE compliance. Existing products sold into the E.U. after July 2006 will be converted to use only RoHS-compliant materials by the deadline.

The RoHS directive requires that producers of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market after July 1, 2006 limit the use of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) to no more than 0.1 percent and cadmium to no more than .0075 percent.

The WEEE directive requires that producers of electronic equipment who sell in EU countries label their equipment to notify customers that it needs to be recycled, take the equipment back from customers at end of life, and finance its recycling and reuse. Intermec will offer a product take-back program to its EU customers at no additional cost to customers. Eligible products will carry a specific mark denoting its coverage.

The WEEE directive takes effect on August 13, 2005, and manufacturers must meet target objectives for recycling by December 2006.