Eurofins | Newsflash - March 2019 | Consumer products

Europe

Plastic additives initiative

Plastic additives initiative is a joint project of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and industry launched in 2016. The aim of this project is to “characterize the uses of plastic additives and the extent to which the additives may be released from plastic articles”

The project has lasted two years (2016-2018) and, as a result, an overview of over 400 additives in plastics used in high volumes in the EU has been generated. The project included the development of a method for comparing the release potential of the different additives. This method could be used by companies in order to check if registration dossiers should be updated or if improvement should be made on the communication of safe use information down the supply chain.

Click here to access the ECHA’s Mapping exercise – Plastic additives initiative.

Click here to get Supplementary Information on Scope and Methods by ECHA.

Click here for more information about Comparing relative release potential method.

Update draft of Single-Use Plastics Directive

On 18^th January 2019, the Council of the European Union published an amendment (5483/19 ) of the draft Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastics products on the environment (Single-Use Plastics Directive).

Read more >>

France

Amendment of household packaging waste requirements of the Code of the Environment

On 16^th January 2019, France published the Order of 4 January 2019 amending the specifications of the eco-organizations of the sector with extended responsibility of the producer of household packaging pursuant to Articles L. 541-10 and R. 543-53 to R. 543-65 of the Code of the environment.

In accordance with the principle of extended producer responsibility, the management of household packaging waste from products marketed in packaging for consumption or use must be provided by producers, importers or any responsible for the first placing on the market of these products. To fulfill their obligations, the producers, importers or persons responsible for the first placing on the market of products marketed in packaging must set up an individual system for the collection and treatment of waste from their products, which must be approved by the public authorities, or collectively set up an eco-organization, which must hold an authorization issued by the public authorities.

The purpose of this decree is to amend the specifications annexed to the order of 29 November 2016, and amended by the Decree of 13 April 2017, setting the conditions for issuing and renewing approvals of organizations managing household packaging waste. The amendments define a bonus for household packaging that incorporates recycled materials.

Click here for getting the official publication in Legifrance.gouv.fr website.

New requirements for treated wood

On 11^th January 2019, France published the Order of 18 December 2018 on the restriction of use and placing on the market of certain treated wood.

This decree lays down the prohibition of the placing on the market of treated wood, whether or not treated wood is imported, new or reused.

It provides derogation and temporary provisions for creosote-treated wood for use in railways and as electricity or telecommunications poles.

This decree also specifies the treatment to be applied to treated wood waste.

Practical guides for distance selling of chemicals, biocidal products and detergents

The French “Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes“ (DGCCRF) has published an article  about the distance selling of chemicals, biocidal products and detergents and which information should be made available to consumers before buying the product.

Click here for reading the DGCCRF article (in French).

Denmark

‘Do it yourself’ (DIY) products project- chemical substances

A recent Danish Environmental Protection Agency project checked the safety of some products used in ‘do it yourself’ (DIY) works. The project examined products commonly used in DIY renovation projects in the home and looked at whether they pose health risks due to exposure to hazardous substances.

After initial screening, the project team chose to examine the risks of nine products in more detail (paints, waxes, chemical wood products, joint foam, white spirit). Eight of the nine products tested were shown to pose some risks to human health if used without appropriate safety equipment such as protective gloves or respiratory masks during application.

Many of the observed concerns were related to products which can release volatile compounds.

Click here for more information about the DIY project from Danish Environmental Protection Agency website.

UK

New video of Product Safety and Standards

On 30^th January 2019,  the Office for Product Safety and Standards published a new video on how to plan for a timely and effective response if a safety issue is identified. Manufacturers and suppliers must be prepared with an action plan if some of their products have a safety problem.

This video introduces the British Standard PAS7100 - Code of Practice on Consumer Product Safety Related Recalls and other Corrective Actions.

Click here to view the video and here to obtain a copy of the PAS 7100 Code of Practice from the BSI.

Europe/International

Standards Updates

Below a summary table with some recent standards updates and upcoming dates of withdrawal (non-exhaustive):

(*) Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.

US

Public hearing to improve CPSC website’s usefulness

On 11^th February 2019, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a notice in Federal Register on Possible Improvements to SaferProducts.gov.

The aim of this public hearing is to get information to make the website more user-friendly, and to improve the searching, reporting and commenting tools.

On other hand the CPSC has created the CPSC Recall App to search for product recalls (Available in the CPSC website, click here).

US | California

Amendment to flammability requirements for upholstered furniture

On 23^rd January 2019, the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation approved the amendment to furniture flammability standards by removing Technical Bulletin TB 133 “Flammability test procedure for seating furniture for use on public occupancies” reference from the Title 4 of the California Code of Regulations.

The removal of this requirement aligns this section with Section 1374 “ Flammability; upholstered and reupholstered furniture”  and establishes TB 117-2013 “ Requirements , Test Procedure and Apparatus for Testing the smolder resistance of materials used in upholstered furniture”  as the standard for furniture in publicly-occupied buildings.

Section 1374.3.” Labelling” is also amended to remove the requirement to have labels on upholstered seating furniture for products meeting TB 133. 

This is effective from January 22, 2019.

Click here for getting the official publication.

California Proposition 65 Reformulations (February, 2019)

California Proposition 65 is the ‘Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986’, which has been effective for almost 30 years. Due to the implement of California Proposition 65, more and more court cases are settled to reduce the exposure of carcinogenic and reproductive chemicals by reformulating the consumer products containing such chemicals.

In order to keep retailers and manufacturers up-to-date, the highlights of some recent consent agreements are summarized as below:

Canada

Proposal to amend the Tents Regulations and Toys Regulations

As already announced in our Eurofins News Flash January 2019 edition, Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) has worked on the development of a new National Standard of Canada for tent flammability and labelling (CAN/CGSB-182.1 Flammability and labelling requirements for tents).

Read more >>

Australia

Update of Safety Standard for Disposable Cigarette Lighters

On 12^th February 2019, the Australian Federal Register of Legislation website registered the Consumer Goods (Disposable Cigarette Lighters) Safety Standard 2019.

This instrument repeals and replaces the Trade Practices (Consumer Product Safety Standard) (Disposable Cigarette Lighters) Regulations 1997 and also incorporates a transition period (12 months from the day this instrument commences.)

After the transitional period, a disposable cigarette lighter must comply with: