CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND RETAIL E-SSENTIALS

EU REACH: Results of Enforcement Project on SVHCs PUBLISHED in Articles 

NOVEMBER 2019 - ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS, HARDLINES, SOFTLINES, TOYS AND CHILDREN'S PRODUCTS

On 18 November 2019, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published results of the Forum pilot enforcement project on substances of very high concern (SVHCs) in articles. The results show that companies need to improve their products’ knowledge. The products containing SVHCs can be used safely via better communication.

The Forum is a network of authorities responsible for the enforcement of the REACH, CLP, BPR, PIC and POP regulations in the EU market. It carried out a pilot project to control SVHCs on the Candidate List in articles sold on the EU market ("Substances in Articles" (SiA)). This project focused on the notification and communication obligations regarding SVHC Candidate List substances in articles under the REACH Regulation.

The SiA project operated from October 2017 until December 2018. In total, fifteen (15) Member States participated in this project and 405 companies were inspected and 682 articles were checked. The project targeted clothing, footwear and home textiles, electronic products (especially cables), construction articles and plastic and rubber articles. Due to the challenges of determining whether the article contains a SVHC Candidate List substance, the project only targeted a few SVHCs on Candidate List. Below are some key findings of this project.

• Twelve percents (12%) (84 out of 682) inspected articles were found containing SVHC Candidate List substances above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w);
• Out of the 84 products containing SVHC Candidate List substances above 0.1% w/w, eighty-one (81) were checked by chemical analysis, and almost of these cases (78) were checked by the authorities.
• Phthalates (mostly bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)) were found the most (in 51 out of 84 articles) followed by short-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) (12 articles) and diazene-1,2-dicarboxamide (ADCA) (12 articles);
• Phthalates and SCCP were found in soft plastic materials;
• ADCA was found in foamed material such as yoga mats and the softer inside lining of a hockey helmet.

From the non-complaint articles, most of the companies were failed to fulfil the obligation of providing required information to supply chain or consumers as per REACH Article 33. This report shared the recommendations to industry and EU Authorities.

As a next step, the ECHA Secretariat and the Forum will further analyse the results and the recommendations included in the final report. Necessary improvement will be evaluated.  

[1] ECHA press release for result of the forum pilot project on substances in articles

[2] Final report on the forum pilot project on substances in articles

[3] Forum for exchange of information on enforcement (Forum)