Commercial Information Circulars

24-hour hotline : 23 922 922

e-mail address : enquiry@tid.gov.hk

Ref : EIC 230/6/14

4 June 2015

Dear Sirs,

Commercial Information Circular No. 456/2015

European Union (EU)* : Call for evidence on the use of the phthalates (DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP) in articles

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has recently announced that it will work jointly with the Danish Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the need for a restriction, according to Article 69(2) of the REACH Regulation, on the placing on the market of articles containing four phthalates (i.e. Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, Benzyl butyl phthalate, Dibutyl phthalate and Diisobutyl phthalate) listed in the Authorisation List (Annex XIV) with a sunset date of 21 February 2015. Details are set out in the announcement which can be accessed through the following link:
http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/80e55162-c072-4f47-9337-0b0aa6a1170f

DETAILS

2.The objective of this call for evidence is to gather concrete information on the use of the four phthalates in articles on the EU market, the phthalate content in articles, the phthalate migration rates from the articles, other relevant information on exposure to the four phthalates from articles and information on alternatives.

3.ECHA invites interested parties to respond to the call for evidence by 24 June 2015 and the questionnaire on compliance control costs by 5 June 2015.

ENQUIRIES

4.For enquiries concerning the content of this circular, please contact the undersigned at telephone number 2398 5556.

Yours faithfully,

(Miss Anita WONG)
for Director-General of Trade and Industry

* The EU member countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.