Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Oeko-Tex® and The Reach SVHC Candidate List: Status As of 1 November 2008
Oeko-Tex® and The Reach SVHC Candidate List: Status As of 1 November 2008
Article 33 of the REACh Regulation places a legal obligation on all product suppliers (manufacturers and
importers) to inform their customers of whether the products supplied contain substances included on
what is known as the REACh "Candidate List" in concentrations greater than 0.1 percent w/w. This unit
corresponds to 1000 mg/kg or 1000 ppm.
When consulting your records, should you find that your products contain more than 0.1 percent w/w of a
substance that has been classified as a SVHC, you must inform the subsequent users and distributors of
your products in a timely manner.
In addition, according to the REACh Regulation, all consumers have the right to demand reliable
information about such products from the manufacturer or seller. The consumer must receive this
information within 45 days.
Compulsory declarations according to REACh, therefore must be made for all types of products
with a content of SVHCs greater than 1000 mg/kg in principle.
Please note that substances will continually be added to the REACh Candidate List. The Oeko-Tex®
testing institutes will observe these developments continually and respond to them.
For years now, the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 has given textile manufacturers a tool with which they have
been successfully able to exclude harmful substances from the supply chain. More than 8000 textile
producing companies are already applying continual compliance with the Oeko-Tex® catalogue of criteria
in plant quality assurance. In addition, since the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 was established, most plants,
producers and distributors in the industrial supply chain have been orientating their conditions of supply
towards specifications' catalogues that are structured in a very similar way. Random sampling and
monitoring inspections are carried out at every step along the entire textile processing chain and between
each delivery to production sites.
According to REACh, each supplier is now legally required to provide their industrial customers down the
production supply chain with at least the name of the substance on the Candidate List if it is contained in
the product at a concentration greater than 0.1 percent w/w. Because the Candidate List is compiled
based on all sectors of industry, the main challenge it poses is determining precisely how the textile
production chain is affected, if at all, by the substances listed.
Attached to this notice is a list containing the first 15 candidate substances. By looking at the table, it also
becomes clear whether these substances are relevant for the textile production chain and if they have
already been regulated or banned in the Oeko-Tex® catalogue of criteria.
Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD)
The listed flame retardant HBCDD is a simple matter. Manufacturers whose products are not treated with
flame retardants have no further concerns in this regard. Producers who make textiles treated with flame
retardants or distributors of such articles must now have fundamental knowledge of the chemical basis for
this feature. The producers of these chemicals know that the safety data sheets for these compounds are
to be more comprehensive in future and that the conditions for their use in Europe are being uniformly
redefined. As a result, there will be clear pressure with reference to the environment and usage to draw
on safer substitute products.
The Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 regulates flame retardants specifically. For a few years now, textiles
intended for garment manufacture are only accepted if they have been tested for harmlessness by
external toxicologists. HBCDD is not present in any of the products that have been accepted.
Nevertheless, in order to clearly document the compliance of Oeko-Tex ® criteria with the provisions of
REACh, starting in 2009, use of HBCDD will be ruled out, just as other polybrominated flame retardants
are already.
Dibutyl phthalate (DBT), Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP)
The phthalates on the REACh Candidate List are already regulated in the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100
criteria catalogue for product classes I and II. Within the framework of Oeko-Text® certification, textile
items that have been processed using a combination of soft PVC and flexible synthetics are tested in
order to ensure that the concentration of the three phthalates in articles in both Product class I and
Product class II have a concentration of less than 0.1 percent w/w. As a result, PVC sock treads have
been replaced by treads made of silicon and laminated synthetic textiles, as have, for example,
substances in washable changing mats, and rain pants and prints are also tested for plastisol
compositions.
The phthalates already regulated by Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 were included in the catalogue of criteria
in accordance with the European directive EU Directive 2005/84 EG. Babies must not be able to ingest
any synthetic substances in or on textiles that could release these risky plasticizers.
The existing phthalate restrictions in the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 will be extended to Product class III
and Product class IV starting in 2009, meaning that Oeko-Tex® certificates will only be issued to such
products if they contain no more than 0.1 percent w/w of these types of phthalate.
O:\PrTexte\OEKO-TEX\Anfragen\2008-11_REACh-Kundeninfo\REACh-Customer-Info_2008-11.doc
Page 3
Postassium dichromate poses similar problems to those exhibited by Chromium-VI. This powerful skin
allergen has already been eliminated from the textile production chain through practical implementation of
the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100, which requires that Chromium VI be "under the detection limit".
Finishing agents containing organic tin compounds in the area of textile consumer articles for daily use
are also completely undesirable. As a result, the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 has set limits excluding TBT,
TPhT and DBT from finishing agents.
For more information and comprehensive dossiers on individual candidate substances, please see the
homepage of the European Chemicals Agency ECHA at
http://echa.europa.eu/consultations/authorisation/svhc/svhc_cons_en.asp.
Jutta Knels
O:\PrTexte\OEKO-TEX\Anfragen\2008-11_REACh-Kundeninfo\REACh-Customer-Info_2008-11.doc
Page 4
Substance CAS EC Number Grounds Relevance for textiles? Included in the Oeko-Tex®
Number criteria catalogue?
NO NO
Anthracene 120-12-7 204-371-1 PBT
but for dye-making
YES YES
NO YES
Cobalt dichloride 7646-79-9 231-589-4 CMR (carcenogenic, category 2)
testing for heavy metals
NO YES
Diarsenic pentoxide 1303-28-2 215-116-9 CMR (carcenogenic, category 1)
testing for heavy metals
NO YES
Diarsenic trioxide 1327-53-3 215-481-4 CMR (carcenogenic, category 1)
testing for heavy metals
5-tert-Butyl-2,4,6-trinitro- NO YES
81-15-2 201-329-4 vPvB
m-xylene (Musk xylene) determination of odours
YES YES
NO NO
Alkanes, C10-13-, Chlor-
(short-chain chloro 85535-84-8 287-476-5 PBT, vPvB leather oiling agents
paraffins)
flame retardants
NO YES
effective exclusion of
Bis(tributyltin) oxide 56-35-9 200-268-0 PBT biocide finishing agents
based on ban of organic tin
compounds
NO YES
Triethylarsenate 15606-95-8 427-700-2 CMR (carcenogenic,categ. 1)
testing for heavy metals
YES YES
O:\PrTexte\OEKO-TEX\Anfragen\2008-11_REACh-Kundeninfo\REACh-Customer-Info_2008-11.doc