Electronics Crisis Averted: Canada Won't Restrict Rosins Jul 6, 2010

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The Canadian Department of the Environment elected on June 26, 2010, to not ban five rosin-containing substances from all products manufactured and sold in the country, averting a potentially crippling blow to the market for electronic products.

"Restricting rosins would have made it extremely difficult for electronics manufacturers to continue doing business in Canada,” said Karl Seelig, vice president of technology for AIM Solder, Inc., and the chairman of the IPC Solder Products Value Council.

The department concluded that the five rosins identified under Batch 10 of the Canadian Chemicals Management Plan are not inherently toxic, bioaccumulative, or persistent and therefore do not pose a threat to human health or the environment.

In October 2009, electronics trade association IPC, with its Solder Products Value Council and Environment, Health and Safety Committee, submitted comments to the Canadian Department of the Environment with an in-depth analysis of how banning rosins would negatively affect the reliability, functionality, and safety of all electronic products.

Rosins are key ingredients in soldering materials used in the manufacture of more than 75% of electronics products.

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