Eurofins Personal Protective Equipment Monthly Bulletin (Apr 2021)

EUROPE

Standards updates

The below table summarises the most recent standards updates and upcoming dates of withdrawal (non-exhaustive):

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

(**) Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.

CENELEC / CEN
Reference	Title	*Date of Availability ()**	Supersedes
CEN/TR 17620:2021	Guidelines for selection, use, care and maintenance of smart garments protecting against heat and flame	2021-04-07
Reference	Title	Date of Withdrawal ()**	Supersedes
EN 407:2020	Protective gloves and other hand protective equipments against thermal risks (heat and/or fire)	2021-04-30	EN 407:2004

FRANCE

Change the Green Dot to the “Triman” logo and Sorting Info in your packagings

On 15 March 2021, order N°450160, 450164 was published which requested that the obligation to remove the "Green Dot" does not apply to the French state until 1st January, 2022. This resulted in the suspension of the date of enforcement (previously 1 April 2021) on the implementation of penalties for confused logos related to waste as laid out in the Decree of 30th November 2020. This decision was taken because of the legal actions of several professional organisations which contended that this was an unjustified obstacle to the free movement of goods within the European Union.

There is thus no obligation to remove the Green Dot from packaging, unless the product is intended for another Member State of the European Union where it is mandatory, such as Spain or Cyprus.

For more information, visit the Adelphe website here.

PRODUCT RECALLS/ ALERTS

Below you will find a monthly summary of product recalls and alerts in Europe (Source “RAPEX”).

Europe

RAPEX (European Commission Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products – Alerts reported by EU national authorities).

The following 5 alerts regarding Personal Protective equipment have been reported, from week 12 to week 15 of 2021.

Type of Risk	Number of alerts	Notes
Health risk/ other	1	Particle filter mask It advertises a protective potential against particles, but its filtering capacity has not been tested by a relevant competent European conformity assessment body. It does not comply with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulation.
	2	Particle filter mask The particle/filter retention of the material is insufficient.
	1	Particle filter mask The mask is presented as providing a protective function, however these claims are not backed by evidence. This could create a false sense of safety to the wearer of the mask and thus, even if combined with other recommended measures, not protect its user.
Drowning	1	Lifejacket Some cylinders of the lifejacket could be empty making inflation of the product impossible.

Between 21 March and 20 April 2021, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) published the following recalls: 0 recall PPE products.