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Canada restricts the use of lead and cadmium in children’s jewelry. The new restrictions will become effective on November 2, 2018.
Canada restricts the use of lead and cadmium in children’s jewelry. The new restrictions will become effective on November 2, 2018.
The Children’s Jewellery Regulations (SOR/2016-168) under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA [1]) regulate lead content (total lead) and migratable lead in jewelry for children under the age of 15.
In October 2010, Canada appealed to the jewelry products industry to voluntarily phase out the use of cadmium and cadmium-related materials in children’s jewelry.
In July 2011, Canada issued a proposal to regulate cadmium content to no more than 130 mg/kg in children’s jewelry.
Although there are no regulatory limits for cadmium in children’s jewelry in Canada, Health Canada has been taking actions against children’s jewelry containing more than the recommended limit of 130 mg/kg cadmium content through the general prohibitions in the CCPSA, a piece of legislation which prohibits consumer products that are a danger to human health or safety.
In December 2016, we informed you [2] that Canada had issued a proposal to amend the Children’s Jewellery Regulations (SOR/2016-168) [3].
On May 2, 2018, Canada published Children’s Jewellery Regulations: SOR/2018-82 [4], a completely new piece of legislation for jewelry products for children under the age of 15. The safety requirements in the new law are essentially identical to those in the proposal dated December 2016.
The new law repeals Children’s Jewellery Regulations (SOR/2016-168) and will become effective six months after publication in Part II of the Canada Gazette.
Highlights of Children’s Jewellery Regulations under the new law (SOR/2018-82) and a comparison with SOR/2016-168 are summarized in Table 1.
| Children’s Jewellery Regulations under the CCPSA | ||
| SOR/2018-82 | SOR/2016-168 | |
| Scope | Jewelry primarily for children under 15 years of age | |
| Requirement | ≤ 90 mg/kg lead content | ≤ 600 mg/kg lead content |
| ≤ 130 mg/kg cadmium content for jewelry item that is small enough to be totally enclosed in a small parts cylinder when a force of not more 4.45 N is applied | ≤ 90 mg/kg migratable lead | |
| Exemption | Merit badges, medals for achievement or other similar objects normally worn only occasionally | |
| Effective Date | November 2, 2018 | Repealed |
Table 1
Stakeholders are advised to comply with the latest requirements for children’s jewelry for the Canadian market.
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