Lead restrictions under REACH Anne XVII to apply in June

In April 2015, the Official Journal of the European Union published Regulation (EU) 2015/628 to restrict on the concentration of lead in the articles or accessible parts thereof to be placed in the mouth by children, which C&K Testing has reported. The restriction provisions will apply on 1 June 2016.

Pursuant with Regulation (EU) 2015/628, the restriction provisions are as the follows:
“Shall not be placed on the market or used in articles supplied to the general public, if the concentration of lead (expressed as metal) in those articles or accessible parts thereof is equal to or greater than 0,05 % by weight, and those articles or accessible parts thereof may, during normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use, be placed in the mouth by children.
That limit shall not apply where it can be demonstrated that the rate of lead release from such an article or any such accessible part of an article, whether coated or uncoated, does not exceed 0,05 μg/cm2 per hour (equivalent to 0,05 μg/g/h), and, for coated articles, that the coating is sufficient to ensure that this release rate is not exceeded for a period of at least two years of normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use of the article.
For the purposes of this paragraph, it is considered that an article or accessible part of an article may be placed in the mouth by children if it is smaller than 5 cm in one dimension or has a detachable or protruding part of that size.”

It is noted that keys, locks, padlocks, musical instruments, religious articles and certain batteries shall be exceptionally exempted. Meanwhile, articles already covered by specific Union legislation regulating lead content or migration should, for reasons of consistency, be exempted.

The official implementation of the lead restriction concerning articles or accessible parts thereof to be placed in the mouth by children can significantly impact on toys, children’s products, stationery, garments and fashion items. C&K Testing advises businesses to control quality and improve manufacturing techniques by product testing.