Chemical Testing

REACH

REACH is an acronym for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals, an EU regulation numbered 1907/2006/EC. It was officially promulgated after being adopted in the final voting of the Council of the European Union on December 18, 2006, and enforced on June 1, 2007.

REACH involves almost all products (except food, drugs and pesticides) sold to the European Union. As a major focus of attention of the REACH regulation, the list of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) has been updated several times since REACH came into force.

If any product classified as "article" is introduced in the EU market containing any SVHC substance with a concentration of > 0.1%, the EU manufacturer or importer should fulfil obligations such as notification and reporting as indicated in the REACH regulations, and shall provide relevant information to consumers within 45 days upon receipt of a consumer advisory; if such substance has a content of > 0.1% and if cumulatively more than 1 tonne/year of such substance is entered the European Union, the EU manufacturer or importer must report to the ECHA before such product is sold on the EU market.

DEKRA can offer you a variety of SVHCs test programmes and comprehensive REACH solutions to help you easily comply with the REACH regulation requirements.

In Europe, the restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment is dictated by the RoHS directive, which is aimed at reducing the negative environmental impact of products and minimizing their toxicity. The directive restricts the use of heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium), brominated flame retardants (PBBs and PBDEs) and phthalates. It is also closely related to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which concerns disposal of such devices.

DEKRA offers complete RoHS testing services, including chemical test analysis, XRF screening and RoHS product compliance evaluation.

Revision of the WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) officially released
The latest revision of the EU WEEE Directive, Directive 2012/19/EU on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, was officially published in the official journal of the European Union on July 24, 2012, and entered into force 20 days after its publication.

Important amendments to the Directive are as follows:

• Range: extended to all electrical and electronic equipment (EEE)
  From August 15, 2018, the new WEEE Directive will reclassify electrical and electronic equipment into 6 categories as shown in Appendix III, and will adopt an open scope (that means the excluded products shall also fall into the scope of the Directive), except for the exclusion application specified in Article 2 (3) and (4) of the Directive. During the transition from August 13, 2012 to August 14, 2018, the standard categories and scope are still the same as the previous Directive 2002/96/EC.
• WEEE collection rate targets
  All member states must ensure that their producers take the responsibility of collecting waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), and reach the collection rate target of at least 45% starting from 2016. From 2019, the minimum collection rate to be achieved annually shall be 65% of the average weight of EEE placed on the market during these three years in the concerned Member State.
• WEEE recovery target: by three phases
  (1) Phase 1 (August 13, 2012 to August 14, 2015): within 3 years after the WEEE revision Directive enters into force, the minimum recovery target for 10 types of products shall be different from the old WEEE Directive in two aspects: (A) adding the medical devices material recovery target, that is, the abandoned medical devices material recycling rate and recovery rate must reach the target of 50% and 70%, respectively, after the WEEE revised Directive enters into force; (B) changing the original re-use and recycling rate target into the recycling rate target.
  
  (2) Phase 2 (August 15, 2015 to August 14, 2018): within 3 to 6 years after the WEEE revised Directive enters into force, the minimum recovery target for 10 types of products, except for gas discharge lamps, shall be increased by 5% compared to Phase 1, and the re-use rate shall be included in the regulation.
  
  (3) Phase 3 (from August 15, 2018 onwards): corresponding recovery rate targets shall be set from the time the new product categories specified by the WEEE revised Directive enters into force.

DEKRA offers WEEE product evaluation services.

Because of the carcinogenic effect of some PAHs, e.g. benzo[a]pyrene, the risk of a health hazard arising from intensive skin contact cannot be excluded. Due to impurities in some raw materials, particularly in extender oils and carbon black, they may unintentionally be contained in products made from rubber and plastics.

The EU Regulation 1272/2013 amends Annex 17 of the REACH Regulation (EC No 1907/2006) with regard to the PAH limit for consumer goods made from plastics and rubber that come into direct contact with the human skin or the oral cavity under normal foreseeable conditions of use. These include sports equipment, household utensils, tools, clothing or promotional items as well as toys and child use and care articles. Violations of REACH Annex 17 are controlled in the Chemicals Sanctions Regulation (ChemSanktionsV).

In addition to this, the document AfPS GS 2014:01 PAK (previously ZEK 01.4-08) and its newly defined categories and limit values are applicable for the award of the GS mark.

The concept of food quality and safety no longer limits to the food itself only. A series of strict laws and regulations on food contact materials and products have been released, both domestically and internationally, for the purpose of protecting food against harmful substances. Therefore, all the food contact products exported to different countries shall strictly abide by the local regulations when existing.

The following products are generally involved:

• Kitchen appliance products: Toaster, electric kettle, electric coffee pot, blender, refrigerator and others
• Food containers: sealed can, wine bottle, lunch box and others
• Kitchen utensils: non-stick pan, cutting board and others
• Tableware: bowl, plate, chopsticks, knife, fork, spoon and others
• Food packaging: bag, laminated film, film, aluminium foil and others

DEKRA can provide one-stop testing solutions for food contact materials and products. Applicable regulations and test items are as follows: