Kappa Environmental Management
Goals - RoHS, WEEE and REACH - Conflict Mineral Policy Statement
Kappa optronics GmbH is fully aware of its responsibility towards environmental protection. Our economic acting is committed to a sustainable environmental protection to preserve our natural resources for future generations.
One of our main goals is to make the products we develop and manufacture environmentally safe. This starts early in the development process when the environmental compatibility and recyclability of the product is reviewed. The analysis focuses on hazardous materials and substances with the aim to avoid them wherever possible.
Another high priority is the energy efficiency of our products, beginning with our low-energy company buildings and production processes.
RoHS, WEEE and REACH
Our commitment to environmental protection includes, of course, the compliance with the respective environmental regulations, e.g., RoHS, WEEE and REACH. Due to continual observation we stay up-to-date with national and international legal and normative regulations. Thus, in the case of amendments or modifications we can assure fast implementation – for the benefit of the environment and our customers.
REACH is the EU regulation for registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals in the European Union. This regulation applies to manufacturers of chemicals as well as to importers and downstream users of substances and preparations.
Kappa optronics has analyzed the statutory provisions with regard to its activities and come to the following conclusion: Kappa is not a manufacturer of chemicals or preparations and does not market such substances. In fact, we manufacture products which do not release substances at normal use. According to the regulation we can be classified as a downstream user and in particular as industrial user and product manufacturer.
Therefore a registration of substances is not required for our products. Nonetheless, we identify our process materials as well as the substances used in our products and analyze the areas of application in order to derive potentially required measures.
Conflict Mineral Policy Statement
In 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the "Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Section 1502" with the aim of ending the violent conflicts and human rights violations that continue in this region (DRC region), against the background that the proceeds from the sale of certain minerals (the so-called conflict minerals: tantalum, tin, tungsten, their ores, and gold) from the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring states are used to finance armed groups. Under this law, publicly traded U.S. companies must disclose the extent to which their products contain conflict minerals.
The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation EU 2017/821 established extensive due diligence and verification requirements for companies that import conflict minerals into the EU above a certain volume threshold. The regulation has been valid in the EU since January 2021. However, Kappa optronics GmbH does not purchase the conflict minerals themselves or their derivative metals directly from metal smelters or other sources in the conflict region and is therefore not directly subject to the regulation.
However, due to their properties, the aforementioned minerals are widely used in the electronics industry and also occur in the components and parts we use to manufacture our products. For this reason, we have initiated extensive measures to monitor our supply chain in order to identify the possible use of conflict minerals by our suppliers and take action where necessary. Follow-up and disclosure will gradually contribute to a significant improvement of the situation.
