In response to environmental regulations to be enacted by EU countries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday launched two initiatives -- "Green Project" and "GP User Group" -- to help establish a management system for electronics makers wanting to build green supply chains.
"By combining government and private resources, I believe we can help local manufacturers to weather the crisis and turn the challenge into an advantage," Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) said at yesterday's launch.
The ministry wants to help manufacturers meet two EU environmental directives -- the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) and the Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS).
Under the WEEE directive passed by the EU in the end of 2002, brand-name electronics producers have to dispose of and recycle their own products tossed out by consumers, starting Aug. 13.
The RoHS directive will ban six different substances, such as lead and mercury, from electronics products but it does not take effect until July next year.
Both directives will mean considerable costs for the 35,000 local companies that make or sell products in the EU with an average output value of NT$240 billion per year, Ho said.
Through the two initiatives, the ministry hopes to establish examination and authorization standards for products and components, and an information platform for green products and parts for suppliers, the minister said.
The ministry has said it wanted to include more than 1,000 electrical and electronic manufacturers meeting EU standards by the end of next June.
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"We hope made-in-Taiwan will become a synonym for green products in the near future," he said.
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