The nationwide enforcement project was carried out by the Swedish Chemicals Agency to control the labelling of articles treated with biocides and to control the presence of restricted substances in the products.
The most common mistakes were:
- serious errors in the labelling, for example that the biocidal active substance was not mentioned
- content of substances in amounts exceeding the limit values
- detection of substances on the EU candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC substances) in concentrations above 0.1 % by weight which by law must be informed
Many of the treated articles were produced outside the EU and the inspection revealed a wide-spread lack of knowledge about the legislation concerning treated articles within the biocides regime, both at the retail stores and at the suppliers.
Products investigated included sports equipment, shoes, electronics with soft plastic parts, toys and bed linen. A summary in English is available in the Swedish report (page 8): Information om farliga ämnen i varor
Improve information in the supply chain
As a supplier or retailer of treated articles you have an obligation to be familiar with and to comply with the regulation. This enables you to make demands to your suppliers in order to obtain the correct information for labelling of the products.
For more information about treated articles and labelling, please contact:
Michael Fink
mif@dhigroup.com
Tel +45 4516 9156
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