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16 The PCB Magazine • March 2015 organisms and it has to be labeled to reflect this classification. However, TBBPA loses this classifi- cation when it is reacted into the printed circuit board resin, which represents more than 80% of its uses. TBBPA is employed as a starting mate- rial that fully reacts to form the epoxy resins of laminates for printed circuit boards. This full inte- gration into the epoxy resin ensures that the final product, flame retarded printed circuit boards, no longer contains TBBPA, leaving the user free from any possible exposure. VI. REACH and RoHS REACH is a European Union regulation con- cerning the registration, evaluation, authorisa- tion and restriction of chemicals. It came into force on 1st June 2007 and replaced a number of European Directives and Regulations with a sin- gle system. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environ- ment through early identification of hazardous properties in chemical substances while main- taining the competitiveness and enhancing the innovative capability of the EU chemicals indus- try. REACH requires registration of substances manufactured or imported into the EU in quan- tities of 1 tonne or more per year. TBBPA was registered under REACH in October 2010. Under the REACH regulations, substances that may have serious and often irreversible ef- fects on human health and the environment can be identified as substances of very high concern (SVHCs). If a substance is identified as an SVHC, it will be added to the Candidate List for eventual inclusion in the Authorisation List. As at 13 December 2013 the candidate list of SVHCs numbered 151 substances [9] . TBBPA is not included as a SVHC. The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS), was adopted in the European Union in February 2003 and re- stricts the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of various types of electronic and electrical equipment. Polybrominated biphe- nyls (PBB) and Polybrominated diphenyl ether were among the restricted materials. No restric- tions were placed on the use or manufacture of TBBPA. RoHS was revised in 2011 (RoHS II): no new substance restrictions were added, but provi- sion was made for future substance review by the Commission. Currently the Commission is working on developing the methodology for future sub- stance restrictions. The final methodology will be published in July 2014. FIRE RETARDANCy: WHAT, WHy, AND HOW continues Feature figure 4: The timeline of rohS II [10] .