Environment : Chemical Substance Management

Note: The laws, regulations and the substances subject to the above table are chemical substances specified as Class I Specified Chemical Substances under the Act on the Evaluation of Chemical Substances and Regulation of Their Manufacture, etc. the EU RoHS Directive Annex XVII of the EU REACH Regulation, etc. For more details, see the chapter 6 "Specified Managed Substances" in the Chemical Substances Management Rank Guidelines (For Products).
As for the hazardous substances whose manufacturing is prohibited under the Japan's Industrial Safety and Health Act, they are managed in accordance with the Specified Managed Substances in the Chemical Substances Management Rank Guidelines (For Factories)

Note: Covered legislation include: PRTR Act (chemical substances), environmental criteria under the Basic Environment Act; the Industrial Safety and Health Act; and the Stockholm Convention. For more details, see the contents on The Aim of Establishing the Chemical Substances Management Rank Guidelines (For Factories) in the Chemical Substances Management Rank Guidelines (For Factories).

*3 Excluding applications where the quality such as safety cannot be ensured, or applications where the material is designated by laws and regulations.
*4 A reduction activity that promotes cutbacks in the use, release, and transfer of chemical substances by 33% in three years and by 50% in six years, compared to the fiscal 1999 level.

To minimize the environmental impact of chemical substances contained in products, we endeavor to identify chemical substances used in the components and materials of our products. In addition, for substances that are prohibited in products in major developed countries because of laws and regulations such as the European RoHS Directive, we manage the substances not to be used and/or contained in our products by designating them as prohibited substances except the substance for specific usage which is unavoidable to use its substitution. We will also conduct environmental impact assessments for the managed substances contained in our products. As for a substance whose impact on human health and/or the environment cannot be ignored, we plan to reduce or prohibit use of the substance.

The electrical and electric products The Panasonic Group manufactures and sells consist of various raw materials and components supplied through a long supply chain from material manufacturers to many component manufacturers.

To contribute to the achievement of the global targets set at the WSSD and the new framework adopted by ICCM5, it is important for us to disclose and communicate information on the chemical substances used in our products across the supply chain, for which we must promote cross-industrial initiatives to establish and disseminate an effective system.

The Panasonic Group is a member of the Joint Article Management Promotion consortium (JAMP). Approximately 500 major companies from various industries, such as chemical, component, and equipment manufacturers are also members of JAMP. We are proactively formulating, utilizing, and disseminating chemical substance management standards and systems through this organization.

The Panasonic Group has started up a product chemical substance management system in fiscal 2005. From July, 2009, our 10,000 suppliers of materials and components provided us the data on chemical substances contained in their products, using JAMP’s data transmission formats (JAMP_AIS and JAP_MSDSplus).

Meanwhile, in Japan alone, the workload of upstream suppliers increased, as a number of hazardous substance inspections were carried out throughout the supply chain using own company format. Having recognized the issues obtained from the inspections, "chemSHERPA" (a new scheme for information communication for chemical substances in products) was proposed in 2015. Because the format adopted for chemSHERPA complies with IEC62474, the international standard on material declaration (a declaration of specific information about composition of the materials and chemical substances in the product) for the electrical and electronic machinery industry and their products, Panasonic Group agreed to use chemSHERPA format; and in January 2018, started full-scale use of chemSHERPA as a data gathering format. With the supply chain expanding to a global scale, it is particularly important for overseas suppliers to deepen their understanding on the handling of hazardous chemical substances. Therefore, our Group carried out education programs for persons in charge of chemical substance management and suppliers at more than 100 of our business sites in ten countries including China and other Asian countries. At the same time, the Panasonic Group completed conversion from JAMP format to chemSHERPA by June 2018.

(The JAMP website was merged into chemSHERPA on March 15, 2019)

While the Japanese automotive industry has been using the JAMA/JAPIA sheet^*5 to share information on chemicals used in products in the supply chain, IMDS^*6 is actually the defacto standard material data system used by the international automotive industry. With the backdrop of the Japanese automotive industry now shifting to IMDS from JAMA/JAPIA sheets, in October 2020 the Panasonic Group undertook a full data migration to IMDS for use in our automotive business. We held seminars to more than 200 suppliers and completed a successful data migration. This means that the Panasonic Group can now obtain data for the materials in the components received from our suppliers through IMDS into our management system for the chemical substances in our products, and, at the same time, we can deliver product chemical data to our customers. The system thus makes for easier material data communications throughout the supply chain.

Companies that procure electronic components need to fully understand the information on the substances contained in the components at the point of selection or usage in order to comply with the EU RoHS Directives and REACH regulations. Particularly, as the REACH Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) List is updated every six months, those companies expect their suppliers to speedily provide information on the latest substance to the Panasonic Group. In order for the companies adopting our group's electric components to speedily and effectively understand the information on chemical substance contents, the Panasonic Group has published a table of RoHS and REACH compliance status on our website since November 2012. The table covers our RoHS Directive compliance information and the substances designated in the RoHS / REACH Confirmation Report for all our major generic electronic components.

*5 The standard material data format in the Japan's automotive industry (standardized by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association and the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association).
*6 International Material Data System: Material data system for automotive industry that is globally used.

For products covered by the Act on the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources of Japan, the Panasonic Group does not manufacture, import, or sell products that contain specified chemical substances which exceeds the limited value in non-exempt parts. For more details, see Information on the Content of Specified Chemical Substances below.

In June 2015, the Act on Preventing Environmental Pollution of Mercury was enacted to implement measures agreed in the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The act requires manufacturers of products containing mercury to provide information such as labelling as manufacturers responsibility, so that such products are appropriately sorted and discharged when being disposed of. In order to communicate information concerning the mercury used in our products to customers, the Panasonic Group opened the webpage to provide our information based on the Act on the Preventing Environmental Pollution of Mercury, in May 2017.

Scientifically identifying the impact on human health and the environment of products containing chemical substances is vital to the development of products with low environmental impact. We are engaging in activities designed to assess the levels to which customers are exposed to substances of very high concern (SVHC), as well as safety during product usage 2011, we have assessed effects of ceramic fibers used in certain models of commercial microwave ovens. As part of our efforts to comply with the EU REACH regulation which requires preparing information for the safe use of products containing a certain amount of SVHC, we have created and publicized the safety assessment document. The exposure was considered to be nominal with little concern for any effects on human health. Furthermore, usage of ceramic fibers in our products was discontinued in December 2010.

Other than described above, we continue to conduct a Product Safety Assessment as a part of our responses to the U.S. State of California's Proposition 65 that aims to protect the state's citizens from chemical substances. Specifically, we conducted an exposure assessment experiment on diisononyl phthalate (DINP) in 2016, and on a brominated flame retardant (TBBPA: Tetrabromobisphenol A) in 2017, then created an exposure assessment tool based on the experiment results. As a result of the assessment, we confirmed that our products do not adversely affect users of our group products, i.e., customers. We are utilizing the exposure assessment tool to confirm product safety and to respond to relevant regulations.

Fluorocarbons (CFC) used as refrigerants, insulating materials, and the like for freezers and air conditioners, have properties which are known to cause ozone layer depletion and global warming. Therefore, the Panasonic Group had devoted to developing the technology to use CO₂ as a refrigerant which has extremely low effects on ozone depletion and global warming, and has sold a home water heater using the low CO₂ refrigerant since 2001.
Although the low CO₂ refrigerant is suitable for heating to maintain a certain degree of temperature, it was difficult to be used in refrigerators and freezers, especially in large commercial equipment due to insufficient cooling efficiency and size. However, with support from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), the Panasonic Group developed a refrigeration system using CO₂ refrigerant, and has delivered CFC-free freezers and refrigeration showcases to supermarkets and convenience stores with the CO₂ refrigerant in Japan since 2010. We have also commercialized high-power freezers designed for distribution warehouses and food factories, and have been expanding their market opportunities with wider scope of their usability from domestic to international.

For wall-mounted home air-conditioners (AC), we are promoting changing over from non-inverter types of AC, not only to more eco-friendly inverter types of AC with high energy-efficiency, but also to the AC with new refrigerant R32 whose Global Warming Potential (GWP) is low.In fiscal 2020, we introduced into Hong Kong's window air-conditioner market new models with the industry's first inverter system using the new R32 refrigerant, which has contributed to reduce environmental loads.

In addition, as measures against ozone depletion caused by HCFCs, a refrigerant called R410 that does not deplete the ozone layer was used in room air conditioners; however, this substance has an issue of its very high very high Global Warming Potential (GWP). Therefore, the Panasonic Group developed a model that uses a new refrigerant R32, which has a lower GWP and introduced it launched sales of the model in 2013. Furthermore, PT. The Panasonic Manufacturing Indonesia, which owns the factory for manufacturing room air conditioners in Indonesia, redesigned its production facility that used an ozone-depleting HCFC refrigerant R22 to one using R32 in fiscal 2015, and started supplying new R32-based air conditioners. Thereby, we contributed to the Indonesian government's initiative to eliminate the use of HCFCs.

In May 2023, we started manufacturing air-to-water heat pumps that utilizes R290 natural refrigerant (propane) for residential use, which has extremely low Global Warming Potential (GWP), as the first Japanes manufacture. In this fiscal year, we plan to introduce new products, and lineup expansion of our product is underway.

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a material of concerns to the generation of hazardous substances from inappropriate disposal, as well as the harmful effects of certain additive agents (phthalates) used to render PVC more pliable. In light of the significant potential for inappropriate disposal of the PVC resin used in the internal wiring of products, due mainly to difficulties associated with the sorting of this resin from used products, we have switched our new products launched from April 2011 to non-PVC.

Phthalates are often used in PVC products, and the use of four phthalates*⁷ was restricted under the EU RoHS Directive from July 22, 2019. Panasonic Group classified these substances as Level 1 Prohibited Substances in our Chemical Substances Management Rank Guidelines Ver. 11 (for products) issued in July 2018, and delivery of materials and components contain the phthalates was prohibited from July 22, 2018. We have classified other phthalates as Level 3 Prohibited Substances, and are promoting their substitution. Since phthalates have a migration characteristic (where a substance from another article migrates through contact), materials may be contaminated by migration from production facilities as well as process equipment containing the four phthalates, which are specified as Level 1 Prohibited Substances. Accordingly, we also discussed introducing preventive measures against contamination through contact. To build a structure for incoming inspection for phthalate, we amended the standard for incoming inspection and determined to conduct incoming inspections on supplied components with a high risk of containing phthalates, such as PVCs, elastomers and glues. We have already selected and assessed an analyzer for phthalates to use for these inspections, and installed the analyzer at our business division. The phthalates contained in Panasonic Group's products exported to Europe used to be as high as 10t. However, total elimination of the phthalates has been completed as of March 31, 2019.

*7 Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), and Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP).