In February 2018, the European Commission (EC) proposed to amend Annex XVII of Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) through the World Trade Organization (WTO) notifications, to add a new restriction on hazardous substances (carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (CMRs) category 1A or 1B) in clothing, other textiles and footwear.
The drafted Regulation would introduce a new entry into Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 that prohibits certain textile products from being placed in the EU market which would contain CMR substances exceeding the specified concentrations listed in Appendix 12. The proposed regulation would apply to clothing and related accessories, footwear and other textile products which under normal conditions of use would come into contact with the skin to an extent similar to clothing.
Regulation Summary
The substances listed in Appendix 12 shall not be placed on the market in the following products if the substance is present in a concentration greater than that specified in Appendix 12:
Clothing or related accessories;
Textiles other than clothing which, under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, come into contact with human skin to an extent similar to clothing;
Footwear.
Exemption:
Clothing, related accessories or footwear, or parts of clothing, related accessories or footwear, made exclusively of natural leather, fur or hide
Non-textile fasteners and non-textile decorative attachments
Second-hand clothing, related accessories, textiles other than clothing or footwear
Personal protective equipment (PPE) within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/425
Medical devices within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2017/745
Disposable textiles (designed to be used only once or for a limited time and are not intended for subsequent use for the same or similar purpose)
Restricted substances and maximum concentration limits in Appendix 12:
Chemical Group | Substances | CAS No. | Requirement | Remark | |
1 | Extractable Heavy Metals | Cadmium and its compounds | / | 1 mg/kg (expressed as each metal) | |
2 | Chromium VI | / | |||
3 | Arsenic | / | |||
4 | Lead and its compounds | / | |||
5 | Solvents / VOCs | Benzene | 71-43-2 | 5 mg/kg | |
6 | PAHs | Benz[a]anthracene | 56-55-3 | 1 mg/kg (each) | |
7 | Benz[e]acephenanthrylene | 205-99-2 | |||
8 | Benzo[a]pyrene | 50-32-8 | |||
9 | Benzo[e]pyrene | 192-97-2 | |||
10 | Benzo[j]fluoranthene | 205-82-3 | |||
11 | Benzo[k]fluoranthene | 207-08-9 | |||
12 | Chrysene | 218-01-9 | |||
13 | Dibenz[a,h]anthracene | 53-70-3 | |||
14 | Chlorotoluenes | α,α,α,4-tetrachlorotoluene | 5216-25-1 | 1 mg/kg (each) | |
15 | α,α,α-trichlorotoluene | 98-07-7 | |||
16 | α-chlorotoluene | 100-44-7 | |||
17 | Formaldehyde | Formaldehyde | 50-00-0 | 75 mg/kg | |
18 | Phthalates | 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid; di-C 6-8-branched alkylesters, C7-rich (DIHP) | 71888-89-6 | 1000 mg/kg (each) | Individually or in combination with other phthalates in this entry or in other entries of Annex XVII |
19 | Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate (DMEP) | 117-82-8 | |||
20 | Diisopentylphthalate (DiPP) | 605-50-5 | |||
21 | Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPP) | 131-18-0 | |||
22 | Di-n-hexyl phthalate (DnHP) | 84-75-3 | |||
23 | Solvents / VOCs | N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone; 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) | 872-50-4 | 3000 mg/kg (each) | |
24 | N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) | 127-19-5 | |||
25 | N,N-dimethylformamide; dimethyl formamide (DMF) | 68-12-2 | |||
26 | Dyestuff | C.I. Disperse Blue 1 | 2475-45-8 | 50 mg/kg (each) | |
27 | C.I. Basic Red 9 | 569-61-9 | |||
28 | C.I. Basic Violet 3 with ≥ 0,1 % of Michler's ketone | 548-62-9 | |||
29 | Others | 4-chloro-o-toluidinium chloride | 3165-93-3 | 30 mg/kg | |
30 | 2-Naphthylammoniumacetate | 553-00-4 | 30 mg/kg | ||
31 | 4-methoxy-m-phenylene diammonium sulphate; 2,4-diaminoanisole sulphate | 39156-41-7 | 30 mg/kg | ||
32 | 2,4,5-trimethylaniline hydrochloride | 21436-97-5 | 30 mg/kg | ||
33 | Quinoline | 91-22-5 | 50 mg/kg |
Reference:
Notifications and draft legislations:
http://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tbt/en/ [1]
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_0628_00_e.pdf [2]
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/TBT/EEC/18_0628_01_e.pdf [3]
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