Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1166358
46 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 and electronic, mechanical, metalworking and metal articles, home textiles, textiles and sport- ing goods as well as medical devices. Several options are presented and would have to be dis- cussed with all the stakeholders in the coming months and years. There are multiple purposes for this article: 1) socializing and promoting use of data ex- change standards in all sectors at any level of the supply chain for a more accurate reporting of hazardous substances and materials in prod- ucts for a better world, 2) identifying existing issues and coming challenges and proposing possible solutions to fix them for more effec- tive reporting, and 3) proposing a long term perspective and plan to align all the stakehold- ers, including the legal authorities for provid- ing to business an efficient reporting system. Such a plan includes a new governance mod- el that is more global and less North American- centric; a process-based approach to specify all support activities for related pieces of the standards, such as XML schemas and guid- ance documents; a harmonization of the IPC- 175x standards series; and an enhanced devel- opment process inspired by ISO and IEC best practices. Another condition of success would also be to continue convergence between the IPC-175x and the IEC 62474 standard selected by many global companies and Japan. This is a new challenge that the IPC organization and the IPC-175x committees will have to meet in the medium term. This article has been written to address a large industry audience per its purposes. First, it is an educational article that provides any business representative with a simplified, state- of-the-art description of the data exchange for- mats for standards covering substances and materials reporting in products and processes. It also includes a review of existing issues and new challenges shared with end users of the standards and companies represented by their trade associations with some solution propos- als they could discuss. Finally, it proposes to prioritize the required changes to the standards with a long-term perspective for all stakehold- ers (standards development organizations and their committees, legal authorities in charge of regulatory lists and their data) to review, dis- cuss, share, and include them or not in their strategic business plans. Introduction: Product Environmental Regulations For some years, environmental and social concerns are more intensively present in the media due to emotional impacts on people and more and more scandals with hazardous and very high concern chemical substances in our day-to-day products. Here is some negative news: • Too many hazardous substances in consumer goods and industrial articles that cause diseases, such as biphenyl A in plastic containers, including baby bottles • More and more material resources consumed for goods due to our consump- tion way of life; some critical material resources become rare in the Earth and have started to generate hard competition between some countries for high technol- ogy products, including renewable energy equipment and mobile phones with their lithium batteries • More and more emissions of toxic substances in the air, ground, and water with a huge impact on humans, animals, and nature • Too much produced waste due to this way of life and not enough recycled mate- rials used by industries, single-use plastic products that pollute fields and oceans with significant effects on nature Citizens are increasingly sensitive to these topics and their impacts on human health, par- ticularly for their children; then media shows on the first page of their papers or webpages when new information comes along on proof of evidence about hazardous substances. Non- governmental organizations (NGO) are also strongly involved in this topic with lobbying for the substances from the SIN (substitute it now!) list recognized as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) restricted in Europe (Figure 1).