Certain plastics contained in toys are exempt from third-party testing requirements for phthalates. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recently determined that four types of plastics containing specific additives do not contain certain phthalates currently banned in children's toys and child care products. acid ester. According to this determination, starting from September 29, these plastics containing specific additives do not need to be tested by a third party to prove compliance with the mandatory ban on phthalates in children's toys and child care products. Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 stipulates that accessible plastic parts of children's toys and child care products, or other parts made of materials that may contain phthalates, shall not contain a concentration of 0.1% or above. 6 specific phthalates, namely DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP and DnOP. Subsequently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission recommended changing the temporary ban on DINP to a permanent ban, lifting the temporary ban on DIDP and DnOP, and adding four other phthalates, namely DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP and DCHP, to the banned list. However, none of these actions have been implemented. Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act, as amended by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, manufacturers of products subject to consumer product safety rules or similar rules, bans, standards or regulations administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission must The product must be proven to comply with all applicable regulations enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. For children's products, certification should be based on test results from a third-party conformity assessment agency accredited by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Therefore, manufacturers of children's toys and child care products that are subject to phthalate limit regulations should have a third party test whether they comply with these regulations before issuing a children's product certificate and putting the children's toys or child care products into the U.S. market. limit. U.S. Public Law 112-28 of August 2011 directed the Consumer Product Safety Commission to seek comment on ways to reduce the cost of third-party testing requirements while ensuring compliance with applicable consumer product safety rules, bans, standards, or regulations. The public law also authorizes the CPSC to promulgate new or revised third-party testing regulations whenever the CPSC determines that such regulations will reduce the cost of third-party testing while ensuring compliance with applicable consumer product safety rules, bans, standards, or regulations. regulations. To this end, the Consumer Product Safety Commission asked the Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment to conduct research on phthalates and prepare two reports on the results. Based on this study, CPSC staff concluded that there is little data indicating that polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), certain polystyrenes (PS), and ABS resins (acrylonitrile-butadiene) -styrenic copolymer) may contain phthalates that are currently banned or may be banned under the proposed rule above. In addition, there is no evidence that these four types of plastics (new materials or recycled materials) used in consumer products (especially children's products) contain these phthalates in concentrations exceeding 0.1%. For this reason, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has determined that if these four plastics contain any of the following additives, they still comply with the phthalate ban and therefore do not need third-party testing to ensure compliance. ˙Polypropylene: Contains plasticizers such as polybutene, dioctyl sebacate, isooctyl resinate, paraffin, naphthenic hydrocarbons, mineral plasticizing oils and polyols; unrecycled catalysts; fillers; primary antioxidants and Secondary antioxidant; neutralizer; antistatic agent; slip agent; metal passivator; quencher; UV stabilizer; nucleating agent; flame retardant; foaming agent; anti-adhesive agent; lubricant; or coloring Agent˙ Polyethylene: Contains plasticizers such as glyceryl tribenzoate, polyethylene glycol, sunflower oil, paraffin, paraffin oil, mineral oil, glycerin, EPDM rubber and EVA polymer; initiator; accelerator; not recycled Catalyst; filler; antistatic agent; flame retardant; anti-adhesive agent; slip agent; foaming agent; cross-linking agent; antioxidant; carbon black; or colorant ˙ General-purpose polystyrene, medium-strength polystyrene, High Strength Polystyrene, Ultra High Strength Polystyrene: Contains unrecycled catalyst; internal lubricant; chain transfer/conversion agent; stabilizer; diluent; colorant; aluminum chloride, ethyl chloride or hydrochloric acid; iron oxide , potassium oxide or chromium oxide; or bifunctional peroxide ˙ ABS resin (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer): contains hydrocarbon processing oil, triphenyl phosphate, resorcinol tetraphenyl phosphate or The Colorants Consumer Product Safety Commission pointed out that this designation only relieves manufacturers of the responsibility of submitting specific plastics and accompanying additives to third-party conformity assessment agencies recognized by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Regardless of whether the third-party testing requirement is waived, children's toys and child care products must still comply with the substantive limits on phthalate content in Section 108 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. If the Consumer Product Safety Commission issues a final rule to change the temporary ban on DINP to a permanent ban and add DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP and DCHP to the banned list, the Consumer Product Safety Commission will also modify the scope of exemptions to cover phthalates affected by The same phthalates that the final rule limits. Source: HKTDC Economic and Trade Research (2017-09-15)
