Environmental Risk Management

Panasonic discontinued the use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in its products in 1972 and has since been strictly managing its PCB waste. In July 2001, the Law concerning Special Measures against PCB Waste was enforced in Japan and we have been storing and making notifications about our PCB waste according to this law. Further, we are making efforts to appropriately dispose of PCB waste as early as possible in collaboration with Japan Environmental Safety Corporation (JESCO).

As for the PCB-containing capacitors buried at five of our factories, which we voluntarily made public in January 2003, we have already completed all the measures required to prevent the spread of contamination outside the factories. We have also completed the excavation of buried devices at four of the five factories and plan to complete the work at the remaining factory by the end of fiscal 2009. We will store and make appropriate notifications about such unburied waste in compliance with the Law concerning Special Measures against PCB Waste.

We will continue to make efforts for the early decontamination of PCB waste in collaboration with JESCO and intend to quickly complete all the remedial measures for the soil contaminated with PCBs, thereby reducing our PCB-related environmental risks.

Panasonic completed the early application procedures to commission JESCO, a special governmental corporation dedicated to PCB waste treatment, to decontaminate its PCB-containing transformers and capacitors weighing 10 kg or more and PCB oil, and concluded agreements to commission the appropriate treatment of PCB waste with JESCO. We will continue to collaborate with JESCO in the decontamination of such waste.

As of the end of March 2008, a total of 137 PCBcontaining high-pressure capacitors were decontaminated. We will further promote the proper storage and management of PCB waste and implement measures for its early decontamination.

site	Measures to prevent the spread of contamination	Groundwater remediation by pumping	Excavation	Progress
Matsushita Welding Systems (Toyonaka)				Completed
Matsushita Electric Industrial (former site of Tsukamoto Plant)				Completed
Panasonic Electronic Devices Japan (Matsue)			(To be completed by the end of fiscal 2009)
Matsushita Electric Industrial Lighting Company (Takatsuki)	Unnecessary because no pollutants detected			Completed
Matsushita Electric Industrial Semiconductor Company (Nagaoka)				Completed

• * Company names mentioned here are the ones which were used when activities completed.

• * As of March 31, 2008

Panasonic commissioned the purification of contaminated soil to the PCB-contaminated soil purification facilities in Kitakyushu City (belonging to Term Corporation) and started full-scale measures to decontaminate the soil in September 2007. By the end of March 2008, we transported approximately 150 tons of soil to the purification facilities for treatment. In transporting the soil from where it was stored to the facilities in Kitakyushu City, we gave special considerations to safety. At the soil purification facilities, PCB-contaminated soil is purified by indirect heating. In this process, the PCBs are vaporized and decomposed through a reaction with steam from the soil. After a further safety check, purified soil is effectively used as cement materials. We will continue our measures to decontaminate PCBcontaminated soil in a prompt manner.