The Control Of Perfluorooctanoic Acid Is Becoming The Focus Of The Industry. EU REACH Regulations Or More Stringent Regulations.

The European Union is an important overseas market for consumer goods such as textiles and garments. With the continuous tightening of chemicals such as nonylphenol and perfluorooctanoic acid in developed countries such as Europe and the United States, enterprises will be forced to upgrade equipment and replace additives.

At the same time, in addition to the detection of single PFOA, after the implementation of the new regulations, a large number of products still need to detect PFOA related substances.

Will increase substantially, under the background of overall profit margin, the industrial pressure is bound to increase constantly, we must arouse enough attention.

Recently, the European Commission released the latest G/TBT/N/EU/411 technical trade measures bulletin through the official platform of WTO. It intends to revise the annex XVII of the EU REACH code.

According to the draft notification, the European Union will completely ban the production and listing of PFOA and its salts.

The draft of the new regulation will be closed in December 2016 and is scheduled to take effect in the first half of 2017. Due to the extensive application of perfluorooctanoic acid in textile and chemical industries, the implementation of the new regulation will have an impact on the export industry of China's textile and clothing, paper products, leather products, plastic products and even electronic and electrical products.

Recently, the European Commission released the latest G/TBT/N/EU/411 technical trade measures bulletin through the official platform of WTO. It intends to revise the annex XVII of the EU REACH code.

According to the draft circular, the EU will totally prohibit the production and listing of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts. The content of PFOA and its salts in any substance, mixture or article should not exceed 25 micrograms / kg (ppb), and the content of PFOA related substances should not exceed 1000ppb.

The draft of the new regulation will be closed in December 2016 and is scheduled to take effect in the first half of 2017. Due to the extensive application of perfluorooctanoic acid in textile and chemical industries, the implementation of the new regulation will have an impact on the export industry of China's textile and clothing, paper products, leather products, plastic products and even electronic and electrical products.

PFO class A has excellent thermal stability, chemical stability, high surface activity, hydrophobicity and oil repellency. It is widely used in textile, clothing, surfactant, cosmetics, fluoropolymer, surface coatings and fire extinguishing foam.

However, PFOA and its associated substances are not easily degraded. They can be absorbed by human body through inhalation, skin contact and food chain. They are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances, which have different degrees of damage to nerve, immune and reproductive systems.

As early as 2012, Greenpeace claimed that perfluorooctanoic acid was found in 14 garment samples randomly selected from the market. The substance has also become another kind of harmful chemical additives besides nonylphenol.

Nonylphenol was banned by REACH regulations in February this year. Since 2010, Canada, the United States, Norway, Sweden and other countries have introduced plans for control and elimination of perfluorooctanoic acid.

In June 2013, the European Union will

Identified as persistent bioaccumulation and toxic substances, and incorporated PFOA into the list of high quality substances in REACH regulations.

In October 2014, Germany and Norway formally submitted to the European Union a dossier limiting PFOA production and listing. The proposed limit is PFOA content not exceeding 2ppb.

In September 2015 and December, the European Commission on risk assessment and the Commission for social and economic analysis agreed to adopt a proposal to restrict PFOA.

However, in view of the fact that there are fewer substitutes, the higher risk of accidental pollution by PFOA and the cost burden of new regulations, the Committee proposes to adjust the pition period to 3 years and set the PFOA limit to 25ppb, but at the same time, the scope of control will be extended to PFOA related substances.

Judging from the new draft rules, even the technically mature European Union is cautious about eliminating PFOA in the short term. Although the proposed dossier proposed by Germany and Norway has set a 18 month pition period, the EU socioeconomic analysis committee finally proposes to extend the pition period to 3 years, and specifically to provide exemption clauses for secondhand goods, medical equipment, semiconductors and other commodities.

From the perspective of the global industry, PFOA will be faced with severe difficulties in the limited choice of alternatives after the ban on the use of PFOA. Especially for the same perfluorinated compounds similar to PFOA, it is also facing a gradual ban. For example, perfluoroylnonic acid has been included in the list of high priority substances by the EU chemical administration in December 2015.

In recent years, the OEKO-TEX, an industry oriented Environmental Protection Textile Association, has tightened its control requirements for perfluorinated compounds. For example, the 2014 edition OEKO-TEXStandard100 standard limits the content of perfluorooctanoic acid in different grades of textiles to 50 micrograms per kilogram to 500 micrograms per kilogram.

The 2015 edition of the standard limits the amount of perfluorooctanoic acid in all textiles to <1.0 micrograms per square meter.

The 2016 edition further incorporated perfluoroheptanic acid, perfluoroylnonylic acid and perfluorodecic acid into the restricted list.

With the intensification of global environmental awareness, control of the use of toxic and harmful chemicals has become a trend.

And so on.

In recent years, the European Union and the United States have also become increasingly stringent in terms of green barriers to chemicals such as perfluorinated compounds, nonylphenol and so on. The action of detoxification has become an industry trend. Enterprises need to raise their sense of risk, layout early, and accelerate pformation and upgrading.

The inspection and quarantine department reminds the export enterprises to pay close attention to the technical trade measures information in Europe and America. Especially in recent years, the REACH regulation has made intensive preparations for the control and control of harmful chemicals in consumer products. The two is to improve the product quality management system. Because of the wide application of PFOA and other substances, the risk of accessories in various chemical additives and plastics, textile and other materials is greater. Enterprises need to strengthen the risk control of raw materials, improve production equipment and processing technology, avoid the occurrence of perfluorooctanoic acid pollution and other hidden troubles. Three, we must do well in quality control before exporting, and entrust qualified testing bodies to detect PFOA and related substances, so as to ensure that products are qualified and effectively prevent subsequent risks.