Consumer protection and sustainability along the textile value chain have always been fundamental issues for the OEKO-TEX® Association. For this reason, the existing guidelines of the OEKO-TEX® product portfolio are updated at the beginning of each year, so that the latest scientific findings and industry trends are adapted. After the transitional period, the new OEKO-TEX® regulations for all certification systems and services finally entered into force on April 1, 2019. An overview of the new regulations can be found here. The latest changes relate to the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT standard.
OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT
The basis for sustainable production of textiles and leather goods is the use of environmentally friendly chemicals. The OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT certification is expressly aimed at the avoidance of unwanted chemicals, even before they enter the global supply chain. For this, numerous chemicals, including dyes, boiling agents, adhesives, inks, pigments and accessories, are analysed in a confidential, three-stage process, which confirms that the formulation and individual ingredients fulfil specific criteria with respect to sustainability, security and compliance with legal provisions.
An overview of the changes:
Inclusion of leather chemicals
Following the introduction of the OEKO-TEX® LEATHER STANDARD for leather products that have been tested for harmful substances, as well as the Sustainable Textile & Leather Production certification (STeP) for environmentally friendly and sustainable leather products, in addition to textile chemicals, leather chemicals will shortly also be able to be tested and certified according to the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT standard.
New substances in the limit value catalogues
Various substances have been newly added to the limit value catalogues. In addition to quinoline, which was already subject to monitoring by OEKO-TEX®, these include the softener and viscosity regulator TCEP (Tris(2-chlorethyl) phosphate), the propellant ADCA (diazene-1,2-dicarboxamide) and the siloxanes D4, D5 and D6. Newly included in Annex 6, are the arylamines 4-chloro-o-toluidinium chloride, CAS No. 3165-93-3, 2-naphthylammoniumacetate, CAS No. 553-00-4, 2,4-diaminoanisole sulphate, CAS No. 39156-41-7, 2,4,5-trimethylaniline hydrochloride, CAS No. 21436-97-5 and the flame retardant, disodium octaborate, CAS No. 12008-41-2.
New additions to the limit value catalogues
In Annex 4 of the OEKO-TEX® ECO PASSPORT limit values were also tightened up for various parameters. This particularly relates to the starting point for the production of dyes, aniline, the solvent, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMAC), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), the flame retardants, penta-, hexa- and heptabromodiphenyl ether, various fire retardants and per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs). There were also changes in the limit value catalogue for the substances, OPP, CMK, TCMTB, for leather chemicals.
Additional important changes in the OEKO-TEX® product portfolio:
OEKO-TEX® already complies with the new “REACH Annex XVII CMR Legislation”
Through the limit value requirements of benzene, amine salts, as well as quinoline in OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 and OEKO-TEX® LEATHER STANDARD, these now already cover the requirements of the new “REACH Annex XVII CMR Legislation” (Commission Regulation (EU) 2018/1513).
Glyphosate under observation
From 2019, two new product groups will be monitored in OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 and OEKO-TEX® LEATHER STANDARD: glyphosate and its salts, as well as the carcinogenic N-nitrosamines and N-nitrosatable substances.
A free webinar on the new regulations for 2019 for all OEKO-TEX® products is available at www.oeko-tex.com/webinars.
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