Environmental Initiatives

REACH is a European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemical substances and is administered by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA).

Datacard Group is aware of the requirements of REACH, the new European Union (EU) Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals and the dates by which various activities must be implemented. It is our intention to assist our customers and suppliers in full compliance with the legal requirements of REACH.

The ECHA published the first list of fifteen (15) substances of very high concern (SVHC) in October 2008. The list was updated in January 2010 to add another fourteen (14) substances and again in June 2010 to add another eight (8) substances. Datacard Group believes that its products do not contain any SVHC >0.1% by weight of the weight of each product. Further, in June 2009 the ECHA amended Annex XVII of REACH resulting in a consolidation of a number of existing restrictions that had been implemented as amendments to Directive 76/769/EEC. To the best of its knowledge, Datacard Group was in compliance with these regulations previously and remains compliant to the current Annex XVII restrictions.

Datacard Group is the United States based manufacturer of machines and systems used in the production of financial credit and debit cards and government security credentials. No formulating, compounding, mixing, production, melting, or another chemical change of plastic materials is performed by our company. As such, Datacard Group is classified as a downstream user under the REACH definitions and therefore we are not required to pre-register or register any products or formulations.

It is our intention to:

• Identify all substances within the products we sell, to the best of our ability, and encourage our suppliers (manufacturers or distributors) to register these substances with the ECHA and/or the proper EU authorities as required by REACH.
• Communicate sufficient information to relevant stakeholders in order to provide information on identified uses of the products we sell within the meaning of REACH.
• Work closely with our supply chain in order to minimize and manage any potential risks associated with CMR materials
• Follow instructions on Safety Data Sheets and information provided on exposure scenarios.
• Provide our customers with information regarding hazards, risks and safe conditions of use of the products we sell via the manufacturers’ Material Safety Data Sheets.
• This statement is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to create legal obligations between Datacard and the recipient of this statement.