Europe | New limits for 33 CMR substances in clothing, textiles and footwear under REACH
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New limits for 33 CMR substances in clothing, textiles and footwear under REACH On 12th October 2018, the European Commission published Regulation (EU) 1513/2018 that modifies Annex XVII to REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 by including a new entry (Entry 72). These new requirements shall be applicable from 1 November 2020. |
Form 2014, the EU Commission has been developing this new approach on the restriction of Category 1A and 1B CMRs in textile products and related (including accessories and footwear).
The new entry 72 of Annex XVII of REACH sets the limits for 33 CMR substances that may be present in these articles either from the production process or because they have been added intentionally to give specific properties to the products.
Hence, the entire supply chain is affected by these updates on the Regulation.
The restriction will be applicable to the following groups of products:
Group of products | Examples |
Clothing and related accessories |
Tops, shirts, underwear, nightwear, hosiery, jackets, coats, suits, sportswear, ties, scarves, watch straps, backpacks, handbags, etc. |
Textiles other than clothing which come into contact with the human skin |
Bed linen, blankets, upholstery, cushion covers, towels, sleeping bags, yarns and fabrics intended for use by final consumers, etc. |
Footwear |
Prints and coatings applied directly on textile article surfaces are covered. |
On the other side, this new restriction Entry is not intended to cover products such as:
- Accessories not related to clothing, such as jewellery, glasses and sunglasses,
- Curtains,
- Wall-to-wall carpets and textile floor coverings for indoor use, rugs and runners,
- textile lampshades and wall decorations,
- napkins and table linen,
- filling materials in chairs, armchairs and sofas,
- clothing, related accessories or footwear, or parts thereof, made exclusively of natural leather, fur or hide,
- non-textile fasteners or decorative attachments (other than prints) , such as buttons, zips, Velcro, rivets, press studs, clasps or buckles, fasteners, eye(let)s, snap fasteners, toggles, hooks, rings, sequins, beads, pearls, stones or metallic mesh. Prints and coatings are not considered decorative attachments in the sense of this exemption
(Products above may be affected by other Entry(ies) in REACH Regulation).
With regards to the concentration limits, the Regulation also takes into consideration that some of the listed substances under Entry 72 may already be restricted under other entries (or, in case of disguise costumes, under another Directive). For those cases where a substance is restricted under more than one entry, the limit to be applied is the more stringent one.
Substances | CAS No | Concentration limit by weight |
Cadmium and its compounds (listed in Annex XVII, Entry 28, 29, 30, Appendices 1-6) |
— |
1 mg/kg after extraction (expressed as Cd metal that can be extracted from the material) |
Chromium VI compounds (listed in Annex XVII, Entry 28, 29, 30, Appendices 1-6) |
— |
1 mg/kg after extraction (expressed as Cr VI that can be extracted from the material) |
Arsenic compounds (listed in Annex XVII, Entry 28, 29, 30, Appendices 1-6) |
— |
1 mg/kg after extraction (expressed as As metal that can be extracted from the material) |
Lead and its compounds (listed in Annex XVII, Entry 28, 29, 30, Appendices 1-6) |
— |
1 mg/kg after extraction (expressed as Pb metal that can be extracted from the material) |
Benzene |
71-43-2 |
5 mg/kg |
Benz[a]anthracene |
56-55-3 |
1 mg/kg |
Benz[e]acephenanthrylene |
205-99-2 |
1 mg/kg |
benzo[a]pyrene; benzo[def]chrysene |
50-32-8 |
1 mg/kg |
Benzo[e]pyrene |
192-97-2 |
1 mg/kg |
Benzo[j]fluoranthene |
205-82-3 |
1 mg/kg |
Benzo[k]fluoranthene |
207-08-9 |
1 mg/kg |
Chrysene |
218-01-9 |
1 mg/kg |
Dibenz[a,h]anthracene |
53-70-3 |
1 mg/kg |
α, α,α,4-tetrachlorotoluene; p-chlorobenzotrichloride |
5216-25-1 |
1 mg/kg |
α, α,α-trichlorotoluene; benzotrichloride |
98-07-7 |
1 mg/kg |
α-chlorotoluene; benzyl chloride |
100-44-7 |
1 mg/kg |
Formaldehyde1 |
50-00-0 |
75 mg/kg |
1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid; di-C 6-8-branched alkylesters, C 7-rich2 |
71888-89-6 |
1 000 mg/kg |
Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate2 |
117-82-8 |
1 000 mg/kg |
Diisopentylphthalate2 |
605-50-5 |
1 000 mg/kg |
Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPP)2 |
131-18-0 |
1 000 mg/kg |
Di-n-hexyl phthalate (DnHP) 2 |
84-75-3 |
1 000 mg/kg |
N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone; 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) |
872-50-4 |
3 000 mg/kg |
N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC) |
127-19-5 |
3 000 mg/kg |
N,N-dimethylformamide; dimethyl formamide (DMF) |
68-12-2 |
3 000 mg/kg |
1,4,5,8-tetraaminoanthraquinone; C.I. Disperse Blue 1 |
2475-45-8 |
50 mg/kg |
Benzenamine, 4,4′-(4-iminocyclohexa-2,5- dienylidenemethylene)dianiline hydrochloride; C.I. Basic Red 9 |
569-61-9 |
50 mg/kg |
[4-[4,4′-bis(dimethylamino)benzhydrylidene]cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidene]dimethylammonium chloride; C.I. Basic Violet 3 with ≥ 0,1 % of Michler's ketone (EC no. 202-027-5) |
548-62-9 |
50 mg/kg |
4-chloro-o-toluidinium chloride |
3165-93-3 |
30 mg/kg |
2-Naphthylammoniumacetate |
553-00-4 |
30 mg/kg |
4-methoxy-m-phenylene diammonium sulphate; 2,4-diaminoanisole sulphate |
39156-41-7 |
30 mg/kg |
2,4,5-trimethylaniline hydrochloride |
21436-97-5 |
30 mg/kg |
Quinoline |
91-22-5 |
50 mg/kg |
1 Formaldehyde restriction from 1 November 2020 to 1 November 2023 in Jackets, coats or upholstery should be 300 mg/kg.
2 Phthalates restriction apply individually or in combination with other phthalates in this entry or in other entries of Annex XVII that are classified in Part 3 of Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 in any of the hazard classes carcinogenicity, germ cell mutagenicity or reproductive toxicity, category 1A or 1B