Last month’s column provided background on the International Electrotechnical Commission, one of only three standards-setting bodies recognized by the World Trade Organization. Readers may have asked, “So what?” The answer is that one of the three “schemes” within the IEC has provided the most credible approach for effectively managing hazardous substances in products and manufacturing.

Within the IEC is the IECQ Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components, whose stated mission is to provide “visibility and independent verification that electronic components and related materials and processes, including those below the user’s level of specification in the supply chain, are compliant to appropriate standards, specifications or other documents.”

Last month, you read that the IEC was 100 years old. The IECQ has been around for 24 years and is the IEC’s certification program for electronic components, processes and related materials. Some may also remember the European “CECC,” which merged into IECQ.

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