BANNOCKBURN, IL – The EC Regulatory Committee on Ecodesign and Energy Labeling has agreed to a draft concerning the standby and off modes of energy-using household and office products.
 
This proposal will be sent to the European Council and European Parliament for review. It should be adopted by the Commission and published by the EU at the beginning of 2009, barring any objections.
 
The first phase will come into effect in 2010.
 
The proposal is already coming under fire from electronics engineers. As one critic noted to a well-known industry email list, “The EU commission groups seem to be very inept when defining scopes and no two policy making groups seem to learn from the other's mistakes,” adding that the proposal’s scope is “extremely vague and confusing … the [EU] drops in words like household and office equipment into the scope, possibly with the intention of making it clearer but in reality just making it more obscure.”

A pdf of the proposal can be viewed at

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Research firm iSuppli Corp. has launched a supplier relationship management training center for electronics companies.
 
iSuppli is offering six courses for OEM procurement teams, covering everything from supplier relationship management and strategic supplier assessment to cross-cultural negotiation in low-cost geographies.
 
Courses are conducted at client facilities and are available immediately.
 
Dan Hawtof, a 20-year industry veteran, has been named to run the center.