Selling plasma screens illegal

Plasma displays currently on sale in Europe are illegal because they contravene the EC's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, a UK analyst has warned.

Pete Gamby, of display specialist Meko, said Panasonic has RoHS-compliant screens but they are not on sale yet and the company has not said how it has been done.

RoHS specified how much toxic material can be used in electrical equipment. One of the most significant offenders, lead, must be no more than a tenth of one per cent of a device by weight.

Plasma displays currently have a far higher percentage, although numbers are hard to come by as panel manufacturers try to keep things quiet, Gamby said at the launch of new monitors from NEC and Viewsonic.

He added: "Dupont makes a coating that removes some of the requirement for the use of lead oxide but this does not apply to all the components of a plasma panel that 'need' lead in them."

It is possible to make lead-free Plasma panels, but they would be extremely expensive and emission requirements would be hard to meet.

Since 1 July 2006, when the RoHS directive was implemented in the UK, an exemption for lead in plasma displays has been submitted to European Commission. But it has not yet been granted.

Many in the industry are waiting for an 'RoHS Hero' to challenge suppliers in court. Meko believes the UK and its green attitude could be the first to do so; however, political pressures still run high, particularly in Turkey and Italy where plasma displays are made. RoHS-compliant LCD panels have been available for some time now and a few legal plasma screens will be available in 2007.