Standards & Compliance Briefing: Prop. 65 Suit, ASTM Energy Standard, Lamborghini ISO 50001

by | Oct 4, 2011

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Environmentalists have brought a large lawsuit under California’s Proposition 65 against major food and beverage companies retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores, Gerber, Dole, Safeway, and Whole Foods, alleging that more than 100 food and beverage products for babies, toddlers and children contain elevated levels of lead  The law firm, Baron & Budd, P.C., announced that it has filed the suit on behalf of the Environmental Law Foundation.

ASTM recently announced a new uniform standard for calculating the energy efficiency of commercial buildings.  The society said that Standard E2797: “Standard Practice for Building Energy Performance Assessment for a Building Involved in a Real Estate Transaction,” commonly known as “BEPA,” will assist building owners as local codes increasingly require energy efficiency disclosures.

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee announced on Tuesday that it has held a near-unanimous second reading vote (52-1) in favor of a new strengthened version of the WEEE Directive.  Under the new WEEE rules, European Union member states would be required to collect more discarded electronic waste, penalties would be increased on operators who illegally export e-waste.  A final vote will come in January.

The head of the European Chemicals Agency said Monday that his agency is open to changing the fee structure for the management of REACH, Chemical Watch reported.  Executive Director Geert Dancet told the European Parliament’s Environment Committee that he recognized that “fees were sometimes a hurdle under REACH as companies have to pay up front at the time of registration,” even for subsequent testing.

Among the changes predicted to cause confusion in the RoHS Recast Directive 2011/65/EU are new CE mark obligations and a standard format, in Annex 6, for a new Declaration of Conformity for “finished goods,” Electronics Weekly reported.

Leviton, the Melville, N.Y.-based manufacturer of lighting systems and electrical wiring devices, plans to buy Obvius, an energy-management start-up in Portland, Ore., that designs applications for monitoring electric, water, gas, environmental and renewable energy information through a single Web platform, Forbes reported.  Levitron said its acquisition makes the company a single-source provider of measurement and verification solutions for those hoping to achieve energy efficiency improvements or LEED accreditation.

The Oregon Health & Science University Center for Health & Healing announced that it has received double-platinum certification LEED certification after achieving a platinum mark for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance.  In 2007, it was the first medical facility to receive the new construction platinum accreditation.

Automobili Lamborghini has become the first automotive company in Italy to receive ISO 50001 certification, PaddockTalk reported.  An audit of the luxury car maker’s facilities was conducted by DNV Business Assurance.  Lamborghini already has ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification.

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