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EU Amends Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, PAH in Consumer Goods

December 12, 2013

Details
Commission Regulation (EU) No 1272/2013 amends Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) with regard to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Benzo[a]pyrene, Benzo[e]pyrene, Benzo[a]anthracene, Chrysen, Benzo[b]fluoranthene, Benzo[j]fluoranthene, Benzo[k]fluoranthene and Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene, hereinafter referred to as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), are classified as carcinogens of category 1B in accordance with Annex VI to Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council of December 16, 2008 on classification, labeling and packaging of substances and mixtures.

Source

Why It Matters
This Regulation shall enter into force on December 27, 2013 and shall apply from December 27, 2015. It is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

To protect the health of consumers from the risk arising from exposure to PAHs in articles, limits on the PAH content in the accessible plastic or rubber parts of articles such as sport equipment, household utensils, tools for domestic use, clothing, footwear, gloves, sportswear, watch-straps, wrist-bands, masks, head-bands shall not be placed on the market, if any of those parts that come into contact with the human skin or the oral cavity contain more than 1 mg/kg of any of the listed PAHs.

Taking into account the vulnerability of children, the placing on the market of toys and childcare articles, containing any of the listed PAH in concentrations greater than 0,5 mg/kg in their accessible plastic or rubber parts, will be prohibited.

How UL Can Help
Across our global network of laboratories, UL can perform all the REACH chemical testing requirements.

To learn how UL's chemical management services can help ensure regulatory compliance for every country in which you source or sell, click Contact UL at the top of the page and a UL representative will follow up with you soon.