Draft Resolution in support of the SAICM recommendations on the hazards in electronics adopted by members of ANROEV May 2013
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Whereas the rapid growth of the electronics industry has been accompanied by massive increased use of toxic chemical substances and an increase in adverse health outcomes during manufacturing and end of life stages;
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Whereas there has been a dramatic increase in the production and use of electrical and electronic products, including a global supply chain that works through a complicated web of subcontractors, often located in Asia;
 Whereas weak, or nonexistent regulations, lack of information about the chemicals to which they are being exposed, insufficient oversight, and a failure to consistently report and track disease patterns associated with the industry compound the problem in many Asian manufacturing facilities;
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Whereas the American Public Health Association (APHA) in a resolution at its annual meeting in San Francisco on October 31, 2012 called on the global electronics’ industry, public health officials and international agencies to step up efforts to protect workers and communities, citing well documented adverse health effects caused by many toxic chemicals used in the manufacture of electronic and electrical products worldwide.
 Whereas the 3rd International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM3) took place from 16 – 21 September 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya and ICCM3 met to assess progress on implementation of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals
Management (SAICM);
 Whereas ICCM3 contained over 400 delegates, representing 122 governments, 19 international organizations, and 79 NGOs from 31 countries;
 Whereas ICCM3 decided to add electronics to the Global Plan of Action (GPA) and continue work on this topic. Since many countries base their implementation of
SAICM on activities contained in the Global Plan of Action, it was significant that adding electronics to the Plan helps elevate official work on the topic.
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Whereas the resolution adopted at ICCM3 for continued work encourages use of the
Vienna recommendations to address the hazards in the lifecycle of electronics which create an international set of best practice resources on these topics. (See the report from the Vienna meeting including its Key Messages and full recommendations from all three stages of the lifecycle; upstream (design), midstream (manufacturing) and downstream (waste): http://www.saicm.org/images/saicm_documents/iccm/ICCM3/Meeting%20documents/INF
%20Documents/ICCM3_INF24_Report%20e-waste%20workshop.pdf
)
Be it resolved that ANROEV endorses and fully supports these recommendations to protect workers and communities affected by the global electronics industry, and in particular support the following key general recommendations from SAICM:
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The development and full implementation of tools that lead to progress in the development of designs that reduce and eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals in the production of electrical and electronic products

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Health surveillance - Business standards and practices for tracking and disclosing the presence of hazardous chemicals in the manufacturing, use and end-of-life stages of electrical and electronic products to ensure that workers and communities have the right to know which hazards they are being exposed to
 Prevention through design - Tools and information on potential safer substitutes for chemicals of concern in electrical and electronic product applications
 Green purchasing strategies of businesses and Governments
 Extended producer responsibility policies of businesses and Governments
 Provisional strategies and actions in design and manufacturing that should be implemented until elimination is possible or safer substitutes are available
In addition, we support the following specific recommendations from SAICM:
 Compile and communicate lists of chemicals of concern to human health and/or the environment in electronic products and those used in the production of electronic products
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Encourage approaches for green design by identifying, quantifying, and disclosing materials of concern and identifying the tools and best practices that advance design for hazardous chemical reduction, elimination and safe substitution
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Promote sustainable production and pollution prevention and encourage sustainable consumption
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Prioritize reduction of exposure to electronics production workers by identifying and implementing state of the art industrial hygiene monitoring for all hazardous chemicals used in production;
 institute state of the art medical monitoring programs to measure all hazardous materials production workers are exposed to (while protecting the privacy of the workers);
 use health surveillance that includes collection of data, analysis, and dissemination of information about injuries, illnesses, hazards and exposures in the electronics sector, with full access for workers to monitoring protocols and results, as well as medical records.
 eliminate or substitute the hazardous substances of concern (defined in the SAICM agreement)
 Promote procurement processes that include this objective
 Conduct research and development on safer chemicals substitutes, alternatives, and safer production processes
 Formulate, promote and implement health-based exposure limits for workers that provide equal protection in the workplace and the community
 Promote public and private partnerships including product stewardship approaches and extended producer responsibility for the environmentally sound management of hazardous substances in e-products both during production, use and at the end of life
 Identify opportunities to support the work of the Basel Convention and the
Stockholm Convention in developing policies on the environmentally sound management of e-waste and the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste

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Establish voluntary approaches and use of economic instruments and other incentives, extended producer responsibility as appropriate and -e products takeback schemes building on existing national and international activities.
 Conduct pilot projects which lead to financially self sustaining initiatives on socially, economically, environmentally sound management of e waste without duplicating other activities including the Stockholm Convention and the Basel Convention programme
 In order to fully implement these recommendations as quickly as possible, we call on all stakeholders to endorse them and to work collaboratively to protect the health and well-being of all workers and community residents affected by the hazards throughout the life cycle of electronics products, including but not limited to:
1.
Electronics companies involved in the design, production, assembly and recycling of electronic products, including all sub-contractors throughout the global supply chain;
2.
Companies that enable the use of electronic products (including mobile phone carriers) as well as companies that benefit from the use of such products, such as the health care industry, the automotive industry, financial institutions, media, the insurance industry etc.;
3.
Governments and public bodies at all levels –local, state, regional, national and international; and
4.
Civil society in all forms