The purpose of this letter is to explain the position of MG Chemicals in regards to the new RoHS regulations, also known as “The Restriction of the Use of Certain Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2004”.

The purpose of RoHS is to restrict the use of certain substances as components in the manufacturing of electrical and electronic hardware. The substances restricted include the following: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphynyls (PBB’s), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers.

The majority of MG Chemical’s product line is made up of cleaning supplies for the electronics industry, including product categories such as cleaner / degreasers, flux remover, desoldering braid, swabs, wipes, and brushes. These products are supplies, not components, and are thus not part of the class of products controlled by the regulation, and none of these products contain any of the listed substances in any case.

MG Chemicals does also sell protective coatings for electronics, and these products are classified as components and therefore covered by the regulation. Of these products, none of them contain any of the substances listed, with the exception of the 832FRB Flame Retardant Epoxy.

The 832FRB currently contains deca-PBB. There are three main PBB’s in use in the world today, penta, octo, and deca, which refer to biphenyl molecules with 5, 8, or 10 bromines attached. The deca molecule is fully brominated; there are 10 possible bonding locations on a biphenyl and each one has bromine attached. Because it is fully brominated, it is not possible for this molecule to pass through human tissue. This makes the molecule human safe. It is our understanding that because of this, and because of the fact that there is no alternative flame retardant currently available on the market with a sufficient amount of human safety data (deca-PBB has had many safety tests completed on it), deca-PBB has received an exemption from the RoHS regulations. In spite of this, MG Chemicals is currently working to reformulate this product with an alternative flame retardant, to remove the need for explanation when the question of RoHS compliance arises.

In summary, this letter confirms that all products of MG Chemicals comply to the RoHS regulations without restriction with the exception of the following part numbers:

• 832FRB-375ML
• 832FRB-3L
• 832FRB-60L

Howard Clark
Director of Research and Development
MG Chemicals Ltd
Friday, April 08, 2005

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