European Commission published amendment Directives on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), entry 50 of annex XVII of REACH on Dec 7, 2013, and this amendment shall apply from Dec 27, 2015.

Main change as below:

Old Requirement: Extender oils shall not be placed on the market, or used for the production of tyres or parts of tyres if they contain listed PAHs: more than 1 mg/kg (0,0001 % by weight) BaP, or, more than 10 mg/kg (0,001 % by weight) of the sum of all listed PAHs.

New requirement：The following paragraphs are added

1. Articles placed on the market for supply to the general public,

Such articles include amongst others:

--sport equipment such as bicycles, golf clubs, racquets

--household utensils, trolleys, walking frames

--tools for domestic use

--clothing, footwear, gloves and sportswear

--watch-straps, wrist-bands, masks, head-bands

If contain more than 1 mg/kg (0,0001 % by weight of this component) of any of the listed PAHs shall not be placed on the market.

2. Toys, including activity toys, and childcare articles, If contain more than 0,5 mg/kg (0,00005 % by weight of this component) of any of the listed PAHs shall not be placed on the market.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) list:

Common sources in world

--Coal tar from petroleum refining process

--Organic substances from incomplete burning of coal, oil, gas or tobacco

--Presence in raw material to make rubber, plastic

High risk materials: 

--Black plastics, Soft plastics, Rubber , Black paint, coating

BACL Recommended test method:

ISO/TS 16190:2013 Footwear - Critical substances potentially present in footwear and footwear components - Test method to quantitatively determine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in footwear materials

Testing Requirement quality: 2 pieces of finished product or 2g component/raw material or

AfPS GS 2014 Testing and assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the course of awarding the GS mark (used for bag, jewelry, toy etc)

Testing Requirement quality: 2 pieces of finished product or 1g component/raw material