EU spreads its wings
February 2, 2005 by Ken
Filed under The Best of the Rest
ET Net News: “New European Union environmental requirements will affect about US$25 billion worth of Hong Kong exports annually and force manufacturers to invest heavily in compliance, according to industry groups. The waste electrical and electronic equipment directive, which comes into effect in Aug, will hold European retailers and their Hong Kong suppliers responsible for recycling what they sell in Europe. Consumer-goods retailers, for example, will have to accept discarded goods and pass them back to their suppliers for recycling or proper disposal, obliging exporters to restructure their supply chains and manufacturing processes. ‘Hong Kong manufacturers will have to invest a lot of effort to meet these requirements in a very short time,’ said Sunny Chai of the Hong Kong Electrical Appliances Manufacturers Association. Chai estimates that less than 10% of Hong Kong manufacturers realise how seriously the new EU directives could affect their businesses.”
