In 2006, the European Union passed regulation EC 1907/2006, the REACH Regulation. Beginning in 2007, the REACH regulation seeks to improve and protect human and environmental health from harmful chemicals.
What is REACH?
Laying out guidelines for the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), provisions of the REACH Regulation are being gradually phased in until 2018.
Using a “no data, no market” approach, the regulation puts the onus of chemical risk management on manufacturers. In order to import goods to, or export goods from, the European Union, manufacturers are required to gather information on the chemicals they use and register it with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The goals of REACH are multifaceted. The regulation aims to:
Develop a comprehensive database of chemicals used in or imported to Europe
Evaluate any ill affects these chemicals may have on human health or the environment
Authorize approved chemicals and controls for chemicals that cause concern
Facilitate the progressive replacement of harmful chemicals
Restrict, limit, or otherwise ban chemicals which pose unacceptable risk
Promote hazard assessment methods that do not require animal testing
With these aims, the REACH Regulation will fill informational gaps about the huge number of chemical substances that have been manufactured or important into the European market. This will allow the ECHA to make educated decisions about restrictions of certain substances, and consumers to make educated decisions about which products they use.
How REACH Impacts Consolidated
The European Union’s REACH Regulation doesn’t apply solely to manufacturers and importers of chemicals. It applies to every industry, manufacturer, or importer whose products contain or were made with chemicals. This includes electronics, wiring, and cabling, what we produce here at Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable.
Technically, Consolidated is not required to adhere to REACH Regulation recommendations, standards, or directives. As a company established outside of the European Union, we are actually exempt. And yet, we still put a great deal of effort into ensuring that our products meet REACH approval standards.
Why? Because Consolidated cares. The health of our staff is important to us, as is the health of end users and of the environment. The European Union’s REACH Regulation is setting important health and safety standards, and our products are only improved by our efforts to meet them.
For more information on Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable’s efforts to meet REACH Regulation standards and how it can benefit your company and your customers, visit ConWire.com today.
Manufacturing the highest quality product possible—as Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable has been doing for more than 95 years—takes a great deal of effort.
The purest raw materials must be sourced, the most skilled employees must be recruited and trained, and advanced manufacturing technologies must be adopted. There are also a host of different certifications to achieve, ratings to strive for, and standards to meet. Among the standards that Consolidated’s cables and wire meet are the NEMA standards.
Overview: NEMA
The National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) is an association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers. It was founded in 1926 in order to set technical standards for electrical and electronic manufacturers for the improvement of those industries and their products, and the safety of users.
NEMA regularly publishes a wide and varied range of standards that apply to various products used in or manufactured by electroindustry. The standards are published to help manufacturers meet several goals:
Meet minimum requirements regarding design, production, and distribution of products
Ensure proper functioning and safety of consumer goods
Improve communication and understanding between manufacturers and customers
Help consumers select the correct, and highest quality products
NEMA Standards
NEMA standards cover a number of different product categories, ranging from building systems to electronic components, and from insulating materials to wire and cable, the last of which applies directly to Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable.
There are four subsets of products in the wire and cable category of the NEMA standards: cover power and control cable, flexible cords, building wire and cable, and high performance wire and cable. Consolidated makes wire and cable that fits into all of these categories. There are currently 29 active NEMA, American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and joint ANSI/NEMA standards geared toward the wire and cable manufacturing industry.
These standards include the following articles:
[No Document Number] – User Guide to Product Specifications for Electrical Building Wire and Cable
ANSI C 12.21-2006 – American National Standard for Protocol Specification for Telephone Modem Communication
ANSI/NEMA HP 5-2013 – Electrical and Electronic Crosslinked, Modified Polyethylene (XPLE) INsulated 125°C Hook-Up Wire, Types L (600 V), LL (1,000 V), and LX (3,000 V)
ANSI/NEMA HP 6-2013 – Electrical and Electronic Silicone and Silicone-Based Insulated Hook-Up Wire Types S (600 V), ZHS (600 V) SS (1,000 V) ZHSS (1,000 V) and SSB Braided (1,000 V)
ANSI/NEMA WC 27500-2015 – American National Standard Aerospace and Industrial Electrical Cable
ANSI/NEMA WC 51-2009/ICEA P-54-440 – Ampacities of Cables Installed in Cable Trays
ANSI/NEMA WC 53-2008/ICEA T-27-581 – Standard Test Methods for Extruded Dielectric Power, Control, Instrumentation and Portable Cables for Test
ANSI/NEMA WC 54/ICEA T-26-4652013 – Guide for Frequency of Stamping Extruded Dielectric Power, Control, Instrumentation and Portable Cables for Test
ANSI/NEMA WC 57-2014/ICEA S-73-532-2014 – Standard for Control, Thermocouple Extension, and Instrumentation Cables
ANSI/NEMA WC 61-2005 – Transfer Impedance Testing
ANSI/NEMA WC 63.2-1996 (R2003) – Performance Standard for Coaxial Premise Data Communications Cables
ANSI/NEMA WC 66/ICEA S-116-732-2013 – Standard for Category 6 and 6A, 100 Ohm, Individually Unshielded Twisted Pairs, Indoor Cables (With or Without An Overall Shield) For Use in LAN Communication Writing Systems
ANSI/NEMA WC 67-2012 – Standard for Uninsulated Conductors Used in Electrical and Electronic Applications
ANSI/NEMA WC 71-1999/ICEA S-96-659-1999 – Standard For Non-Shielded Cables Rated 2,001-5,000 V for Use in the Distribution of Electric Energy
ANSI/NEMA WC 74/ICEA S-93-639-2012 – 5-46 kV Shielded Power Cable for Use in the Transmission and Distribution of Electric Energy
NEMA CPSP 1-2015 – Supply Chain Best Practices
NEMA F12-1992 (R1999, R2004) – Untreated Mica Paper Used for Electrical Insulation
NEMA HP 100-1991 (R1999, R2005, R2010) Series (HP 100-100.4) – High-Temperature Instrumentation and Control Cables
NEMA RV 1-2014 – Application and Installation Guidelines for Armored Cable and Metal-Clad Cable
NEMA RV 2-2011 – Application and Installation Guidelines for Nonmetallic-Sheathed (NM-B) Cable and Underground Feeder and Branch Circuit (UF-B) Cable
NEMA RV 3-2014 – Application and Installation Guidelines for Flexible and Liquidtight Flexible Metal and Nonmetallic Conduits
NEMA RV 4-2012 – Application Guidelines for Service-Entrance Cable
NEMA WC 26/EEMAC 201-2008 – Binational Wire and Cable Packaging Standard
NEMA WC 52-2005 – High-Temperature and Electronic Insulated Wire, Impulse Dielectric Testing
NEMA WC 62-1992 (R1999, R2004) – Repeated Spark/Impulse Dielectric Testing
NEMA WC 63.1-2005 – Performance Standard for Twisted Pair Premise Voice and Data Communications Cables
NEMA WC 65-1995 (R2003) – A Reasoned Approach to Solving Solderability Problems with Tin-Coated and Nickel-Coated Stranded Conductors in High-Performance Wire and Cable Applications
NEMA WC 72-1999 (R2004) – continually of Coating Testing for Electrical Conductors
NEMA WC 73-2000 (R2005, R2012) Wire Selection Guidelines for Wires Rated at 200° to 450°C
Our Commitment to NEMA Standards
Though wire and cable are not required to meet standards, as standards are more similar to “best practice” guidelines than they are to requirements—Consolidated does everything we can to ensure that our products meet all applicable NEMA standards. It makes our products better, which makes your products better.
For more information on Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable and the standards we work to meet with our products, download any of the free documents found in our Technical Information Library.
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, Directive 2002/95/EC, is a directive of the European Union effective as of July 1, 2006. It has wide reaching implications and its importance is growing.
What is the RoHS Directive?
The RoHS Directive restricts the use of several hazardous materials in electronics and other electrical goods. The restrictions are designed to minimize human exposure to the substances and to prevent them from ending up in landfills.
The substances restricted by RoHS are:
Lead
Mercury
Cadmium
Hexavalent chromium
Polybrominated biphenyls
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Because the toxicity of lead, mercury, and cadmium have been well documented for some time, they have been phased out of uses that include human contact, such as lead paint, mercury in thermometers, and cadmium in batteries and pigments.
Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen often used in metal plating. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are used in plastics as flame retardants. PBBs and PBDEs are suspected carcinogens — they’ve been proven to cause cancer in lab mice and, as such, are assumed to cause cancer in humans.
Though each of these substances are clearly detrimental to human health and the environment, they can all still be found in many consumer products. For example, they all appear regularly in electrical components and electronics, including in appliances, lighting, electric tools, electronic toys, computers, telecommunications equipment, and more.
Hence the European Union’s RoHS directive.
Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable and RoHS
As an industry leading manufacturer of electric cable and wire, Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable products can be found in many of the electric and electronic devices monitored by the RoHS directive. We are proud that we are able to say all of the wire and cable we produce at Consolidated is fully RoHS compliant.
RoHS compliance is important. Aside from the obvious detrimental health and environmental effects of the six restricted chemicals, it is good for business. In buying wire and cable from Consolidated, you can be sure that your products will be eligible for sale in European Union countries and in the more than 25 American states that have enacted similar chemical restrictions.
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The European Union’s REACH Regulation doesn’t apply solely to manufacturers and importers of chemicals. It applies to every industry, manufacturer, or importer whose products contain or were made with chemicals. This includes electronics, wiring, and cabling, what we produce here at Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable.
The National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) is an association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers. It was founded in 1926 in order to set technical standards for electrical and electronic manufacturers for the improvement of those industries and their products, and the safety of users.
The substances restricted by RoHS are:
As an industry leading manufacturer of electric cable and wire, Consolidated Electronic Wire & Cable products can be found in many of the electric and electronic devices monitored by the RoHS directive. We are proud that we are able to say all of the wire and cable we produce at Consolidated is fully RoHS compliant.