Eurofins | Newsflash - November 2018 | Consumer products

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 (*)Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.

(**)Date of availability (dav) date when the definitive text in the official language versions of an approved CEN/CENELEC publication is distributed by the Central Secretariat.

US

California Proposition 65 Reformulations (October, 2018)

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:
 

US

SOFFA: Bill proposal for flammability regulation for upholstered furniture On 4th October 2018 , the Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act (SOFFA) was adopted by Senate. The aim of this bill proposal S. 3551 is to adopt a certain California flammability standard as a Federal flammability standard to protect against the risk of upholstered furniture flammability, and for other purposes. SOFFA will be enforceable 180 days after date of enactment of the Act.

US - San Francisco

Guidelines for Compliance of Flame Retardant Ordinance

In June this year, we already informed that San Francisco had approved “Flame Retardant Chemicals in Upholstered Furniture and Juvenile Products Ordinance” (No.211-17).

The Ordinance prohibits the sale of upholstered furniture and certain juvenile products that contain or is made with a flame retardant chemical at a level above 1,000 parts per million from 1^st January 2019. Covered products with electrical or electronic components shall comply with this Ordinance from July 1, 2019.

San Francisco’s Department of Environment has recently published some guidelines for compliance with this ordinance (To read these guidelines click here: SFE-18-1-FR).

Canada

Regulation proposal for Tobacco and vaping Products On 18th October 2018, the Canadian Department of Health notified its Regulations Excluding Certain Vaping Products Regulated under the Food and Drugs Act from the Application of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations and the Natural Health Products Regulations (Vaping Products) to World Trade Organization.

The aim of this regulation is to ensure the application of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) and the Food and Drugs Act (FDA) and their requirements for child-resistant packaging and warning statements on the labels.

Click here for getting the publication in the European Commission website with reference G/TBT/N/CAN/567.

Canada

Canada Issues Prohibition of Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos Regulations

On 17^th October 2018, Health Canada published Prohibition of Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos Regulations: SOR/2018-196 on the Canada Gazette, Part II.

These Regulations prohibit the import, sale, and use of processed asbestos fibers and products containing processed asbestos fibers and consumer products containing naturally occurring asbestos in greater than trace amounts, with some exceptions.

The Regulations will come into force on the 90^th day after the day on which they are registered that is 30 December, 2018 and the current Asbestos Products Regulations SOR/2016-164 will be repealed on the same day.

Click here for more information.