With the beginning of a new year, companies doing business in and with China will need to be compliant with another new regulation: the Chinese law on restriction of hazardous substance in electronic and information products (RoHS).

Initiated and drafted by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII, www.mii.gov.cn), the first legislation aimed at environment protection—Administrative Management Methods on Controlling Pollutions by Electronic Information Products” (Order #35)—was jointly issued by some of the most powerful ministries, including the Ministry of Commerce; China Customs; General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ); State Administration for Industry and Commerce; as well as the State Environmental Protection Administration. The aforementioned order was officially released on March 2, 2006, with the implementation date set for March 1, 2007.

Chang-Hong Whitney is president of Whitney Consulting Ltd. in Massachusetts. With an MBA from Babson College (Wellesley, MA) and undergraduate degrees in electronic engineering and international business, she has been consulting for western companies on doing business in China since 1994, focusing on the medical device market. Her services include China regulatory affairs, market research, sourcing and logistics programs and China business strategies. She can be reached at [email protected].