Supply chain pressure comes from RoHS

"No one in the supply chain is underestimating the scale of the task facing all companies as the July 2006 deadline for compliance with the RoHS Directive approaches. It could be a bigger, more expensive issue for companies than dealing with the Millennium date change five years ago. Suppliers and distributors have been tackling the issues of compliant product availability and component labelling for many months. With strategies in place many suppliers feel confident that they have the compliance issue under control. Yet they are facing another problem. With the realisation of the approach of the cut-off for non-compliant components, many customers are being more reticent in their purchasing practices to avoid being saddled with non-compliant inventory they cannot use after July." Source: electronicsweekly.com