Chemicals | Monthly bulletin | July 2022

Europe

New update to Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs)

On 10^th June 2022, the ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) released the new Candidate List of SVHCs. With the addition of 1 new substance, the current list of SVHCs now contains 224 substances.

See below a table indicating the lastest substance addition:

N-(hydroxymethyl)acrylamide is mostly used in polymers and manufacturing other chemicals, textiles, leather or fur, paints and coatings.

Legal obligations for companies using SVHC substances include:

• Suppliers provide customers and consumers with enough information to allow for safe use of products that  contain a substance of very high concern (SVHC) above a concentration of 0.1 % (weight by weight)
• Importers and producers of these products must notify the ECHA if their article contains SVHC substances above a concentration of 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) and the substance is present in those products in quantities totalling over 1 tonne per producer or per importer per year. The notifications have to be submitted within six months from the date it that the substance is included in the list.
• Suppliers of substances on the Candidate List, supplied either on their own or in mixtures, have to provide their customers with a safety data sheet.
• Under the Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC on waste- WFD), any supplier of an article containing a substance of very high concern (SVHC) in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) on the EU market is required to submit a SCIP Notification on that article to ECHA, as of 5 January 2021. SCIP is the database holding information on Substances of Concern in articles, as such or in complex objects (products), established under the WFD. The SCIP database complements the existing notification obligations for Candidate List substances in articles subject to REACH regulation and its related communication through the supply chain, according to Articles 7 (2) and 33 respectively.

Click here to access the official List from ECHA’s website.

Recent updates regarding REACH Regulation

The below table provides a summary of some recent updates (non-exhaustive) regarding REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006:

Other interesting links about REACH from the ECHA’s website

• Registry of restriction intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Registry of SVHC intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Substance evaluation - CoRAP - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Adopted opinions and previous consultations on applications for authorisation - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Applications for authorisation - current consultations - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Current calls for comments and evidence - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Authorisation List - ECHA (europa.eu)
• ECHA's completed activities on restriction
• Submitted restrictions under consideration
• Assessment of regulatory needs list

Recent updates regarding CLP

Other interesting links about CLP from the ECHA’s website

• Registry of CLH intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Harmonised classification and labelling consultations - ECHA (europa.eu)

5 new substances proposed as POPs

The consultation regarding the addition of 5 new substances to be listed as persistent organic pollutants under the Stockholm Convention is opened until 19^th July 2022. The proposed substances are:

For more information, consult the ECHA’s website here.

Public initiatives related to chemicals and RoHs

The below table includes some recent publications related to chemicals and RoHs:

UK

RoHS Regulation 2022 amendment

On 9^th June 2022, an amendment to UK RoHS Regulation was published.

The amendment introduces three new exemptions which concern the application of Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) in certain types of medical devices and spare parts recovered from and used for the repair or refurbishment of medical devices.

These Regulations came into force on 1^st July 2022.

For more information, consult the official publication on legislation.gov.uk here.

Recent updates regarding UK REACH and GB CLP

The below table gives a summary of the most recent updates (non-exhaustive) regarding UK REACH and GB CLP:

US

California Proposition 65 reformulations

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 implementation of California Proposition 65, more and more court cases are settled to reduce the exposure of carcinogenic and reproductive chemicals by reformulating consumer products containing such chemicals.

In order to keep retailers and manufacturers up-to-date, the highlights of the consent agreements and settlements are summarised below:

Colorado approves new PFAS law

Colorado has recently passed Bill HB 22-1345 to ban intentionally added PFAS in various consumer products. The new law also includes a labeling requirement for cookware containing PFAS substances. Please see Table 1 below for the varying requirements and effective dates

Table 1:

FDA amends food additive regulations

On May 20^th, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a Final Rule in the Federal Register to no longer provide for the use of 25 plasticisers in various food contact applications because these uses have been abandoned. The FDA revoked authorisations for the food contact use of 23 phthalates and 2 other substances used as plasticisers, adhesives, defoaming agents, surface lubricants, resins, and slimicides. This action will result in limiting the use of phthalates in food contact applications to 9 phthalates (8 authorised for use as plasticisers and 1 authorised for use as a monomer).

Thailand

Thailand publishes 5 new standards for food contact plastics

Thailand’s Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) has recently published 5 new standards for food contact materials. 3 standards are related to plastic utensils and 2 standards are related to plastic food containers for microwave ovens. Please see Table 1 below for the list of new food contact standards that will become effective on January 3^rd, 2023.

Table 1: