BANNOCKBURN, IL -- The industry continues to do battle over a proposed standard governing limits of chlorine and bromine in electronics assemblies, with opponents continuing to vote against publishing the pending document until verifiable test methods are developed.

The standard, J-STD-709, is being strongly pushed by IPC, with support from Dell and Intel. Critics have characterized the OEMs' position as one based not on scientific facts but rather a transparent attempt to satisfy environmental groups.

Some have gone so far as to suggest IPC's support is an attempt by the trade group to cozy up to two large OEMs, to the detriment of the majority of its membership, which would in theory be responsible for building to the standard -- and underwriting its costs.

As J-STD-709 is circulated among the IPC membership for approval, several members of the trade group have already issued ballots against the proposed spec. One major sticking point, as one negative vote illuminates, is the lack of standard test methods to measure conformity.

 "At this point in time, no verifed analytical test methods have been presented to verify bromine and chlorine from just the flame retardants," wrote one voter. "Therefore, the specification requirments are not capable of being enforced." That voter noted that "other technical objections centered on vague compliance requirements, which per the document must be proven using “industry accepted best practices.” "This is too vague," the voter said.

Per IPC rules, pending standards only can be rejected on technical grounds.

Voting on the document continues at www.ipc.org. Voting is open to all industry companies, regardless of whether they are IPC members.