LG ‘first’ to be RoHS accredited

LG Philips has claimed to be the first vendor to receive accreditation under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, which came into force on 1 July.

LG is the first TFT/LCD panel manufacturer to be recognised as an internationally accredited RoHS testing lab, according to the vendor.

Sang Deog Yeo, executive vice- president of LG Philips LCD development centre, said in a statement: “Authorisation as an internationally accredited testing laboratory will allow LG Philips LCD to reduce the costs associated with external testing.”

LG Philips claimed the accreditation, which was awarded by the European Union’s (EU) German accreditation organisation EU TUV, will allow its in-house laboratory tests to have the same credibility and trustworthiness as those performed by official RoHS authorised test centres.

Martin Cobb, product director at TFT distributor Trident, told CRN: “I can’t see the direct benefit [of accreditation], and we don’t deal with vendors that aren’t RoHS compliant anyway. I don’t see what the benefit of this accreditation is.”

The announcement comes just three weeks after LG Philips, which also operates a Green Purchasing System to block the use of hazardous materials at the purchasing stage, announced a $95m investment fund for the development of a new factory in southern China.

james_sherwood@vnu.co.uk