The Mitsubishi Group promotes green procurement on the basis of its Green Procurement Standards Guide, which was originally drafted in September 2000 and continues to be revised to accord with current laws and regulations.

In fiscal 2007, we revised the standards to reflect the Joint Industry Guideline (JIG) *1 and issued an updated version in Japanese, English and Chinese in November. Surveys of chemical substances contained in procured products are conducted for the 24 JIG substances on the basis of the JGPSSI Ver. 3 survey format *2. We are working in this way to standardize green procurement throughout the Group.

In addition, we introduced a Green Accreditation system in order to faithfully comply with the EU's RoHS Directive, which went into effect last year. Suppliers that comply with environmental regulations and regulations for chemical substances contained in products are certified as green suppliers. This program serves to ensure the quality of procured products and help manage the risk of contamination by a banned substance. We have a goal of procuring all production materials used in products and secondary materials used during production from certified green suppliers by the end of fiscal 2009. Moreover, we will work together with certified green suppliers to prepare for compliance with the EU's REACH policy (described below), which will require the management of many more chemical substances.

The Mitsubishi Electric Group has completely eliminated use of the six specific substances*1 regulated by the EU's RoHS Directive (enforced July 2006) as of December 2005.

China's Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products Regulation, or China RoHS*2, went into effect on March 1, 2007. China RoHS is the same as the EU's RoHS Directive in terms of regulated substances, but differs in terms of applicable products and legal requirements. It will be implemented in two stages. The first stage makes it mandatory to label information on inclusion of the six substances. Products are to be labeled with their environmental period of validity (the period during which the product can be used without causing serious environmental pollution) and manufacturing date. Products and/or their manuals are to also include information on the six substances and packaging materials. We are in compliance with these requirements. The second stage of implementation has not yet started, but inclusion of the six substances will be regulated for products listed in a priority products catalogue in accordance with the CCC certification method*3.

In order to comply with these regulations, we are acquiring information on the inclusion of chemical substances in parts and materials, as well as non-usage certificates to ensure reliability. We are also maintaining and strengthening contamination prevention and traceability controls for the specified substances from a compliance standpoint; for example, by analyzing parts and materials with contamination risk ourselves and confirming the presence or absence of the substances.

New European Union regulations on chemical substances, REACH, is scheduled go into effect in June 2007. REACH will make safety assessments mandatory for around 30,000 types of chemical substances sold in the EU. This will make it necessary for the Mitsubishi Electric Group to track the presence or absence of approximately 1,500 specified substances*1 in parts, devices and other Group products.

Management of the many types of chemical substances subject to REACH is exceedingly difficult using the methods used to comply with RoHS, such as analyzing parts and materials, and obtaining non-usage certificates for directly contracted suppliers. The cooperation of the entire supply chain, including material suppliers, will be needed to appropriately manage chemical substances contained in products and avoid contamination by regulated substances. It will therefore be essential to create mechanisms for obtaining material data from upstream chemicals and metals companies, and parts information from middle stream parts manufacturers.

In order to facilitate the flow of information along entire supply chains, the Japan Article Management Promotion Consortium (JAMP) *2 was launched in September 2006. JAMP is working to promote increased use of MSDS Plus data sheets for materials like coatings and metallic materials, and article information sheets (AIS) for molded products (articles) such as condensers, and other electronic components and electromechanical parts. The goal is to have information on the inclusion of chemical substances regulated in Japan or overseas communicated along supply chains. Mitsubishi Electric is involved in the consortium as one of its founding members and is working to build mechanisms for facilitating the circulation of this type of information.