Technical Info: New EU Phthalates Directive Finalized

After some amendments the text of the new EU Phthalates Directive has now been agreed and is expected to take effect in Oct. 2006, at the earliest. It will ban the use of the phthalates DEHP, DBP and BBP in PVC and other plasticized materials in all toys and children articles. Similarly, DINP, DIDP and DNOP will be banned in those toys and child articles which can be placed in the mouth by children.

Childcare articles are defined by the Directive as any products intended to facilitate sleep, relaxation, hygiene, the feeding of children or sucking on the part of children (e.g. dummies/pacifiers, feeding teats etc). The EU commission is developing a guidance document to clarify which toys and childcare articles “can be placed in the mouth”, with publication planned (hopefully by late 2005), before the directive takes effect. Clearly mouth toys for all ages will now be covered, along with many toys intended for children under 36 months, who instinctively place objects in their mouths.

Final implementation will be based on the date that Directive is published in the EU’s Official Journal (OJ), but is not expected until Oct. 2005. Member States will then have to publish their national laws within six months (perhaps April 2006), taking effect after a further six months (12 months after the publication in the OJ, roughly Oct. 2006). It will then supersede the EU’s ongoing “temporary” phthalates ban. This Directive will be re-evaluated after 4 years to take into account new scientific information.

Phthalates	CAS No.	Restrictions
DEHP	117－81－7	0.1% by mass of plasticized material in toys and childcare articles
DBP	84－74－2
BBP	85－68－7
DINP	28553－12－0 68515－48－0	0.1% by mass of plasticized material in toys and childcare articles which can be placed in the mouth by children.
DIDP	26761－40－0 68515－49－1
DNOP	117－84－0

A series of Training Program will be launched in Middle and late Nov. by Intertek Eco-Certification Dept.in Jiangsu and Shandong respectively. The Main topics of this training program are as following:

· The updated development of ecological requirements of International Textile Market;

· The brief introduction of REACH

· The reason analysis to the eco testing failure cases

· Intertek Eco-Certification introduction;

Participants are requested to enter their names to Intertek Eco-Certification Dept. directly.

Issued by: Intertek Eco-Certification Dept.