Hi Gregg The RoHS Directive bans very specific halogens. Phenolic laminates do contain halogens that are not banned. Please find below a brief interpretation of the Directive. In the Additional Notes paragraph, you will see that there are some 70 other brominated flame retardants that are not banned. The Directive therefore does not insist that laminates are halogen free. ROHS Directive From 01 July 2006, new electrical and electronic equipment put on the market shall not contain:- Lead Cadmium Mercury Hexavalent chromium Poly-brominated biphenyls (PBB) or poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) ~ such as o Pentabromodiphenylether o Octobromodiphenylether o Decabromodiphenylether o Bis(tribromophenoxy)ethane An Annex exists with a list of exempted uses for some of these substances where substitutes are not yet available or it is not technically feasible to find substitutes. Additional Notes 1) The ROHS Directive gives producers a clear guarantee that no individual EU Member State will be able to introduce separate bans or restrictions on any other substance than those specified in the ROHS Directive. There are some 70 other brominated flame retardants that are not banned I hope that this is of some help Alistair Murray Technical Manager Artetch Circuits Ltd UK -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Greg Triggs Sent: 12 July 2005 19:53 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Phenolic vs Halogenfree With the switch to leadfree coming soon I am a little confused regarding two possible laminate replacements. The first is the phenolic type laminate that has a higher Tg and Td and can be used in leadfree applications. The second is the Halogenfree material that seems to use Phosphorus to replace the Bromine flame retardant. Does the RoHass requirement specify that laminates are both Leadfree and --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- Halogenfree ? Do the phenolic laminate contain Halogens. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------