Eurofins Softlines & Leather Monthly Bulletin (Apr 2021)

EUROPE

Standards updates

The below table summarises the most recent standard 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(*) Date of withdrawal: latest date by which national standards conflicting with an EN (and HD for CENELEC) have to be withdrawn.

Regulatory proposals notified

The table below summarises recent regulatory proposals made to the European Commission (Non-exhaustive):

FRANCE

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

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 1 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 30^th 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 (French only).

NORTHERN IRELAND

Mandatory face mask use in church and worship places

On 9 April 2021, the Department of Health published The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2021.

These Regulations amend the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020 in order to require members of the public to wear face coverings whilst inside a church or other religious premises, and on transport services, because of the serious and imminent threat to public health which is posed by the incidence and spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) in Northern Ireland. They replace provisions originally made in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2020. It come into operation on 9 April 2021.

For more information, read the official publication on the GOV.UK website here.

UK

Technical specification for transparent face mask

On 1 April 2021, the Department of Health and Social Care published guidance on technical specifications of transparent face masks.

This document specifies design and performance requirements for single-use transparent face masks which are intended to provide comparable protection and source control to Type IIR medical masks.

Masks complying with this technical specification cannot be referred to as Type IIR medical masks, as that term is defined in EN 14683:2019 and is reserved for products meeting the definition of a medical device that also complies wholly with the requirements for Type IIR medical masks in that standard. Masks complying with this technical specification may however meet some of the requirements of EN 14683:2019.

For more information, read the official publication on the GOV.UK website here.

US

Standard for the Flammability of Upholstered Furniture

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is issuing a direct final rule on the flammability of upholstered furniture (manufactured, imported, or reupholstered) under the COVID–19 Regulatory Relief and Work From Home Safety Act.

This Act mandates that CPSC has to promulgate California Technical Bulletin 117–2013 as a flammability standard under section 4 of the Flammable Fabrics Act.

The rule will be effective from 25 June 2021 and compliance with the labeling requirement in § 1640.4 should start by 25 June, 2022.

The document is in a comment period until 10th May 2021. If a significant adverse comment is received, a notification in the Federal Register will be published withdrawing this direct final rule before the effective date.

For more information, read the official publication on the Federal Register here.

Proposal and addition of substances in California Proposition 65

On 19 March 2021, The California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) noticed the state of the following substances:

• The intention to list perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (CAS RN 335-67-1) as known to the State of California to cause cancer under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65).
• The addition of molybdenum trioxide (CAS No. 1313-27-5) and indium tin oxide (CAS No. 50926-11-9) to the list of chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer for purposes of Proposition 65. The listing of these chemicals is pursuant to the “Labor Code” listing mechanism.

For more information, visit the OEHHA website here.

Standards updates

The table below summarises some recent ASTM standards updates:

CHINA

China publishes updated GB Standards

On 1 May 2021, the following standards have been effective as the announcement Nº 22 of 2020 indicated by China National Standardization (SAC):

China publishes updated Standards

On 19 April 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China published Announcement Nº 6 of 2021, in which 563 industry standards were approved. Among them were, 60 textile industry standards, and 112 chemical industry standards, as well as other standards from different industries.

INTERNATIONAL

Regulatory proposals notified to WTO

The table below summarises the most recent notifications made to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (non-exhaustive):

PRODUCT RECALLS / ALERTS

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

Europe

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

The following 6 alerts regarding textile & leather products have been reported, from week 12 until week 15 of 2021.

US

Between 21 March and 20 April 2021, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) published the following recalls: 1 recall textile & leather products