I forward the following for your comment.  This came through a news service
(Walt Custer) who forwards all kinds of electronics stories by subscription.
Seems to report lead free as a done deal.  Wonder if US based NEMI would
concur with the way this is reported?  Maybe translation to English is a
small part of the problem.

Denny Fritz
MacDermid, Inc
*******************************
Kyodo News

TOKYO, Dec. 17 -- EDS: Representatives from the electronics industry in
Japan, the United States and Europe have agreed to halt lead soldering
by 2005 to safeguard the environment, a Japanese industry group said
Tuesday.

"Average companies in the electronic industry will halt usage of lead
soldering materials by 2005," the Japan Electronics and Information
Technology Industries Association (JEITA) said in a press release.

For later entrants, the target year is set at 2007.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of the Lead-free World Summit in
Tokyo on Nov. 19, where representatives from JEITA, the National
Electronics Manufacturing Initiative Inc. of the U.S. and SOLDERTEC at
Tin Technology Ltd. of Europe adopted a timetable called the World
Lead-free Soldering Roadmap.
In electronics equipment and electrical machinery systems, lead
soldering materials have been widely used to fix integrated circuits on
printed   wiring  boards (PWBs) and other electronic components.

In recent years, however, the environmental impact of lead has become
apparent, and the presence of lead in PWBs has been a major hurdle in
disposing of and recycling electronic equipment.

"To realize the elimination of lead in the increasingly global assembly,
component and device industries, a globally promoted initiative is
needed," JEITA said.
The Global Lead-free Soldering Roadmap, which specifies a timetable for
the realization of lead elimination, has therefore become a necessity,
it said.

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