BANNOCKBURN, IL - The IPC has asked technical experts from member companies and others in the electronics industry to participate in a meeting in Brussels on June 18, to discuss its concerns on RoHS expansion with representatives of the European Commission.

In a letter sent to member organizations, the IPC listed its objections to the report issued by the Öko Institute, an organization retained by the EU Commission to study the inclusion of additional restrictions in the RoHS directive, reportedly questioning what the IPC calls “the institute’s biased and flawed methodologies.”

The IPC claims that the institute went beyond the framework set by the EU Commission, creating new criteria and categories for inclusion within the RoHS Directive, and proposing that additional combustionable substances be prohibited under RoHS. This includes Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA), a flame retardant used in more than 80% of manufactured PCBs, which the IPC claimed had previously passed a European Union Risk Assessment.

The institute reportedly also denied permission for the IPC to attend a workshop it held to discuss the report, claiming that only “scientific experts were invited,” which prompted IPC to say that the move “sends concerns throughout the industry that scientific evidence is not driving the basis of the report.”

The IPC stated that “it believes that it is critical for all scientific evidence to be presented, and is hopeful that its special meeting in Brussels will provide industry experts with an avenue to present their technical findings before a final decision is made by the EU Commission.”