On 19 January 2010, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) instituted the revised version of the Provisions on Environmental Administration of New Chemical Substances. This new legislation brought China’s environmental regulations into closer accordance with the EU REACH law. The new Chinese legislation is often referred to as “China REACH”.

Then, after 9 years of implementation, the second revision on the Provisions was made in 2020. The revised Provisions on the Environmental Administration of New Chemical Substances (MEE Order No. 12) were released on the 29th April, 2020 and will take effect on 1st January, 2021.

As a significant support for the implementation of China REACH, GB/T 39498-2020 (Guidelines for the Control of the Use of Key Chemical Substances in Consumer Products) was officially released on 19 November 2020. The standard will come into force on 1 June 2021.

Application Scope

GB/T 39498-2020 applies to consumer products, including product components, parts, accessories, packaging, and instructions for use. But it does not apply to products under special government supervision such as food, medicine, cosmetics, tobacco, special equipment, aircraft, ship, and military products.

Main Content

GB/T 39498-2020 is based on the EU “REACH Regulation ((EC) No 1907/2006)”. The limit requirements of this standard refer to the “EN71-9 General Requirements for Organic Compounds in Toys”, “EN71-12: 2013 Toy Safety-Part 12 N-nitrosamines and N-nitroso Compounds”, “Ecological textile standard Oeko-tex100-2017”, and other foreign standards’ limit requirements, putting forward restrictions on consumer products in China. Specifically, in accordance with the requirements of GB/T 39498-2020, it is necessary to focus on the control of the key chemical substances in consumer products, including heavy metals, alkanes, halogenated alkanes, benzenes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenols, aldehydes, ethers, alcohols, esters and salts, amines, dyes and other chemical substances that cannot be classified, etc. (117 categories in total).

Background

In recent years, recall notification of the European Union and the United States for consumer products in China showed that more than half of the product recalls occur due to the hazards of chemicals. The primary reason for this is that there is a lack of national standards regarding the restriction on chemical safety hazards in China. To accelerate the export of Chinese products and improve the products quality, it is urgent to develop standards on the control of key chemical substances in consumer products that will lead the development of industry.

Conclusion

Enterprises related to consumer goods should pay full attention to the standard updates and have a comprehensive understanding of restricted and banned substances and related requirements, so as to improve the quality of consumer goods and reduce product risks.

China REACH VS EU REACH

It is known that all companies are obliged to notify new chemical substances, which are not listed on the Inventory of Existing Chemical Substance in China (IECSC), to the Chemical Registration Centre (CRC) before they are exported to China. In common with the submission of EU REACH registration dossiers, datasets are also required to support China REACH notification applications. Actually data requirements in EU and China overlap in some cases, but there are also several distinct differences.

  • Both regulations have data requirements that include submission of (i) complete datasets and (ii) datasets modified by using specific rules for adaptation.
  • Several eco-toxicological tests must be conducted on Chinese test organisms in accredited MEP-approved Chinese laboratories.
  • In common with EU REACH, a risk assessment report is required to be carried out by companies submitting a notification.

By Haley WU