PRESS RELEASE
February 16, 1995
Green-PC quality assured by Swedish
trade union and enviro-organisation

Most of the world’s leading computer screen manufacturers, including IBM, ICL, EIZO and Nokia, produce products that have passed TCO’92 emission and energy efficiency certification. The programme has proved to be very successful and, in March this year,
will be supplemented with TCO’95,
which defines the first ever global ergonomic and environmental require-
ments for the whole computer and not just the screen. This new certifi-
cation programme has been developed
by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) and environmental organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

TCO, which has 1.3 million members, first began to formulate ergonomic and emission standards for personal computers in the mid-eighties with the publication of its Screen Checker. This defined, what the organization regarded, as essential factors for evaluating the quality of computer screens and keyboards. The first checking tool was followed by two more - Screen Facts and Software Checker in 1990/91.
A year later the organization introduced the TCO’92 certification programme for computer screens. Require- ments cover three main areas. Electric and magnetic fields, energy consumption and electric and fire safety.
”Last year, 43 million personal computers were sold world-wide, so it’s an enormous market”, comments Per Erik Boivie, Development Manager at TCO. ”30 computer manufacturers now produce TCO’92 certified monitors and, by following our programme, have greatly improved the quality of their products”.
TCO certification has also gained broad, European support from outside the computer industry.
The Euro-Fiet organisation, which represents 15 of Europe’s unions discussed the ergonomic and environ- mental impact of computer usage in detail at its conference last September giving the programme their full backing. ”This kind of support for our certification programme is invaluable”, comments Per Erik Boivie.

Next generation - TCO’95
The TCO will, in March of this year, introduce a new set of standards, TCO’95 which it will present for the first time at the Cebit exhibition. TCO’95 has been developed in collaboration with organizations including the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, NUTEK (The National Board for Industrial and Technical Development in Sweden) and SEMKO. According to Per Erik Boivie, the new certification programme is designed to plug, what he calls, some significant gaps in the present system.
”Now we are looking at the whole computer including the keyboard and system unit, not just the screen”, he says.
The ecological requirements of TCO’95 certification are stringent. No CFC or HCFC should be used during manufacturing, cadmium and mercury are not allowed, bromide flame retardants should not be used in the plastic housing of the screen, the system unit or keyboard and components should all be recyclable.
Other aspects include screen size, flicker, colour, the sharpness and shape of the characters, screen-glass reflections, working heights and angles. Also important is heat and noise emission, electric and magnetic fields, energy consumption and design details that affect useability.


Caption:
The TCO’92 and TCO 95 logotypes which, according to Per Erik Boivie, Development Manager with Swedish trade union TCO, will be a common sight in future.