24 May 2022, ECHA has consulted on listing 5 substances as POPs. These substances are expected to be or have already been proposed for listing as POPs under the Stockholm Convention. Deadline for the public consultation is 19 Jul. 2022. Detailed information of the 5 substances: Substance Name CAS Number Possible Applications 2-(2H-benzotriazol-2-yl)-4,6-ditertpentylphenol 25973-55-1 Commonly used as UV absorbers in surface coatings, plastic and ink additives, and personal ca...

10 Jun. 2022, ECHA has added 1 substance into the Candidate List of SVHCs. The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) now contains 224 substances that may have serious effects on people or the environment. Detailed information of the one substance added to the Candidate List for authorisation: Substance Name EC No. CAS No. Reason for Inclusion Examples of Uses N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide 213-103-2 924-42-5 Carcinogenic; Mutagenic As a monomer for polymeris...

Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is receiving comments on draft standard “ready mixed paint, air drying, red oxide-zinc chrome painting-specification” until 11 May 2022. This Draft has extended the limit of lead restriction in household coatings to industrial applications. To prevent lead exposure of children and adults and consequent adverse impact on human health and safety and because of further scope for children’s exposure to the dried paint surfaces, the lead res...

On April 6 2022, ECHA and the Member States have assessed a group of 148 bisphenols and recommended that more than 30 bisphenols need to be restricted due to their potential hormonal or reprotoxic effects. Many bisphenols are known endocrine disrupters both for human health and the environment and may lead to exposures to both professionals and consumers. Bisphenols are mostly used as intermediates in the manufacture of polymers or polymer resins, such as polycarbonate plast...

In 2021, through on-site inspection and laboratory testing, Shanghai Customs had effectively implemented the quality and safety inspection and supervision of imported consumer goods at Shanghai ports, and effectively guaranteed the safety and health of consumers. The relevant unqualified cases found by Shanghai Customs in the quality and safety inspection of imported and exported commodities are hereby released. Case 1: Continuous detection of unqualified adult clothing of B...

ECHA has published the SCIP Database. It is EU’s first public database of substances of very high concern in products. It aims to allow consumers to make more informed purchasing choices and help waste operators to further develop the re-use of articles and the recycling of materials. Around 6 000 companies across the European Union have successfully complied with their new duty to notify ECHA about products containing substances of very high concern, SVHCs. The SCIP datab...

6 Aug. 2021, EU Commission has released the Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1297 of 4 August 2021 amending Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards perfluorocarboxylic acids containing 9 to 14 carbon atoms in the chain (C9-C14 PFCAs), their salts and C9-C14 PFCA-related substances. The regulation will take effect the 20th day after its release. In Annex XVII, entry 68 is replaced by the following: 68. Linear and bran...

According to the "Order of the General Administration of Customs. P.R.China" (No. 238, No. 240) and the "Announcement of the General Administration of Customs. P.R.China" (No. 34 of 2018), manufacturers, importers or import agents of Imported Paints (Hereinafter referred to as the filing applicant) may apply to the filing agency for the filing of imported paints as needed. The operation process is as follows: 1. Apply for filing The filing application should be submitted to...

From December 1, 2020, the new national standards for coatings, inks, adhesives and cleaning agents have been officially implemented. The implementation and supervision of the new national standard has played an important role in China's environmental protection, and can also further regulate the healthy development of the industry. The new national standards not only control domestic coatings, imported coatings are also the subject of supervision by Chinese customs. Recentl...

On March 12 2021, Xinsha Customs has detected 2 batches of imported coatings with hazardous substances exceeding the standards and the customs has issued "Inspection and Quarantine Processing Notice" for return processing in accordance with regulations. The Customs inspected the two batches of coatings on site and sent them to the laboratory for testing. It was found that the total content of glycol ethers and ether esters, and the total content of polycyclic aromatic hydroc...

January – March 2021, the European Commission validated 1053 RASFF notifications , including 968 notifications on food, accounting for 91.93%; 50 notifications on feed, accounting for 4.75%; 35 notifications on food contact materials (FCMs), accounting for 3.32%. 27 of the FCM products are from China, accounting for 77.14%. The prime hazards for FCMs are migration of elements. There are more details on FCM notifications as below: Date Reference Notified by Product Subject...

Asbestos Asbestos is a general term for natural fibrous siliceous minerals. It belongs to silicates. It is a substance with a fibrous crystal structure, containing magnesium, iron, aluminum, sodium and other oxides and bound silica. It is very solid, and has the properties of fire resistance, corrosion resistance, heat preservation, etc., and the price is low. However, asbestos has been included in the list of first-level carcinogens by the WHO. This is because although asbe...

In January 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the final rules for the control of hazardous substances, in order to reduce exposure to substances, mixtures or articles that containing persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT). These five substances include decabromodiphenyl ether (DecaBDE), phenol, isopropylated phosphate (3:1) (PIP (3:1)), 2,4,6-Tris(tert-butyl)phenol (2,4,6-TTBP), hexachlorobutadiene (HCBD), pentachlorothiophenol (PCTP). The rules...

In February 2021, the government commissioned an evaluation expert team to verify the CMA qualification of C&K Testing Laboratory. C&K Testing has successfully passed the on-site review of all testing items of VOCs new national standards in this application for expansion, and has obtained the qualification of China Inspection Body and Laboratory Mandatory Approval (CMA) for testing relevant standards for coatings, inks, adhesives and cleaning agents, etc. On July 3,...

From December 1st, 2020, “Limit of volatile organic compounds content in adhesive” (GB33372-2020), “Limit of volatile organic compounds content in cleaning agents” (GB38508-2020), “Limit of harmful substances of industrial protective coatings” (GB30981- 2020), “Limit of harmful substances of architectural wall coatings” (GB 18582-2020), “Limit of harmful substances of woodenware coatings” (GB18581-2020)and other national standards came into force effectiv...

Introduction In 2020 many China national standards of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) have been released by China authorities. Relative testing methods and limit values of VOCs in different industries including Coating, Adhesive, Ink, Cleaning agents, etc. are specified. Most VOC national standards have been implemented since Dec 1st 2020. The expert from CIRS would like to use this webinar to help industries understand and comply with the standards, Time Language Date Tim...

On November 19th, 2020, the National Standardization Administration issued Announcement No. 26 of 2020, in which the "Chinese version of REACH restricted substances"-GB/T 39498-2020 "Guidelines for the Control of the Use of Key Chemical Substances in Consumer Products" is officially released. The standard will be implemented on June 1st, 2021. Application Scope This standard applies to consumer products, including product components, parts, accessories, packaging and instruc...

In 2018, in order to speed up the improvement of environmental air quality, State Council proposed the "three-year action plan to fight air pollution". On May 15th, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the "2020 Volatile Organic Compounds Governance Plan (Draft for Comments)", which clearly stated that from July 1st, 2020, the production, sales and use of ship coatings and floor coatings should meet the newly promulgated and implemented national product harmf...

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA related compounds has been listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1021. New concentrations limits on these substances have applied since 4 Jul. 2020. The following entry has been added into Annex I: Substance CAS No. EC No. Specific exemption on intermediate use or other specification Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds “Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds...

25 Jun. 2020, ECHA has added 4 substances into the Candidate List of SVHCs. The additions include three substances that are toxic to reproduction and one endocrine disruptor. The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) now contains 209 substances that may have serious effects on people or the environment. Substances added to the Candidate List for authorisation on 25 June 2020: Substance Name EC No. CAS No. Reason for Inclusion Examples of Uses 1-vinylimida...