ARLINGTON, Va. — A series of white papers released by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) offer OEMs a guide to the environmental requirements and restrictions for different markets around the globe.

The four papers -- one each for North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe -- offer region-specific overviews of the regulations and requirements in place for companies that manufacture, distribute or dispose of electronics in those regions.

The papers are snapshots from EIATRACK, the association's environmental legislation tracking service. Among the regulations explored in the white paper are RoHS, WEEE, REACH, Design for Environment, and e-waste laws.

From a news release announcing the white papers:

In North America, products are subject to an expanding patchwork of complex legislation. State and local governments in the United States, along with the Canadian provinces, have passed and continue to introduce numerous product-based environmental and safety measures, creating new compliance and marketing challenges for global companies. Some requirements are exceeding comparable mandates in Europe and Asia.

In Asia, the largest push toward product-oriented regulations is evident in China, India and South Korea. Of greatest concern is China's development of more stringent requirements than RoHS and WEEE regulations currently in place in the EU. As the world's largest producing country and one of the largest consuming countries, China has become the region's bellwether jurisdiction for changes in product-oriented regulations. With a 1.15 billion population moving rapidly into the technological era, India is now mobilizing efforts to create voluntary measures.

All four white papers are available for download from GreenerComputing:

Asia
Europe
Latin America
North America

More details about EIATRACK are online at www.eiatrack.org.