Glad to see IPC is not sitting on the sidelines anymore. Ahne. PS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrabromobisphenol_A. But rather than stopping them is anyone looking for alternatives already? -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Perry Sent: 13 November, 2013 14:09 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] IPC Response Request to EU Proposal to ban TBBPA from Laminate Systems Fellow TechNetters: Do you know what the European Union Commission's Directorate General (DG) for Environment likes to do with its time? Naturally, they like to revise the list of substances restricted under the RoHS directive (http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/rohs2). The Commission's consultants have recently drawn up a prioritized list of additional substances to be reviewed for restriction under RoHS (http://www.umweltbundesamt.at/fileadmin/site/umweltthemen/abfall/ROHS/2nd_I nterim_Report.pdf). Despite efforts by IPC, TBBPA, estimated to account for more than 90% of all FR-4 flame retardants used today, is now on this list. Currently, the Commission is reviewing the flame retardant HBCDD. Although HBCDD is not used in printed boards, the review is still important as it likely will serve as a model for future substance assessments, including TBBPA. While the EU's impact analysis does include costs for resin manufacturers and administrative costs, it assumes that a complete change in the flame retardant and laminate system would have little cost impact on printed board fabricators, contract assemblers and OEM users. To assist us in preparing comments to this proposal, IPC is seeking input from the industry on how this change in flame retardants and/or laminate system would affect your company, and what steps and associated costs would be required of your company to make this change. If you would like to provide feedback on this, please do so by sending your response to Fern Abrams of IPC at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> no later than the close of Monday, November 18th. Thanks for your attention, John Perry Technical Project Manager IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries(r) 3000 Lakeside Drive # 309S Bannockburn, IL 60015-1249 USA +1 847-597-2818 (tel) +1 847-615-7105 (fax) +1 847-615-7100 (Main) [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.ipc.org<http://www.ipc.org> ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________