By Ma Flordeliza C Leong
Many countries now regulate jewellery by setting minimum standards on health and safety as a way to protect their citizens. Manufacturers must therefore ensure their products comply with the right standards for their target market, according to a new report by testing and certification company SGS.
The document noted that global legislation and standards can be complex. “For businesses to remain competitive, they must produce innovative products that are safe, high-quality, and compliant with the relevant regulations and standards. To add to the complexity, identical restricted substances or products may have to comply with very different legislation to access separate target markets,” it added.
In the European Union (EU) the principal law governing chemical use in consumer products, including jewellery, is Regulation (EC) 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).
Annex XVII of REACH regulates the use of chemicals as substances, constituents of substances, mixtures and/or articles. This legislation contains two important provisions for chemicals in jewellery products.
One is Article 7(2) of REACH (“Notification of Substances in Articles”). EU manufacturers or EU importers are obliged to notify the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) if a substance of very high concern (SVHC) is greater than 0.1% and the total quantity of the SVHC in the articles exceeds one tonne per EU manufacturer or EU importer per year.
The other is Article 33(2) of REACH (“Duty to Communicate Information on Substances in Articles”). Suppliers of an article containing an SVHC in a concentration greater than 0.1% has a duty to provide the consumer with sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow the safe use of the article, including, as a minimum, the name of the SVHC, within 45 days of receipt of the request.
The EU is also a signatory to the Stockholm Convention, a global treaty to protect human health and the environment by eliminating the production and use of internationally recognized “Persistent Organic Pollutants” (POPs). The EU regulates these through Regulation (EC) 850/2004, a piece of legislation aligned with the provisions of the international agreements on POPs.
On the other hand, in the United States, jewellery products intended primarily for children aged 12 years and under are regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). At the same time, there are also a host of jurisdiction-specific regulations for both adult and children’s jewellery. Each of these jurisdictions has its own set of specifications.
Moreover, California also has a unique (Right to Know) law, known as Proposition 65 (Prop 65). This requires businesses to provide clear and reasonable warnings to Californian citizens about significant exposures to a list of more than 800 chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. Once a chemical is listed, businesses have 12 months to comply with this requirement.
In Canada, the overall framework for consumer product safety, including those for children’s jewellery, is the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA). Jewellery that appeals primarily to children under 15 years of age is subject to the CCPSA, Children’s Jewellery Regulations (CJR), and Surface Coating Materials Regulations (SCMR).
In May 2018, Canada published a completely new CJR (SOR/2018-82) to restrict lead and cadmium in children’s jewellery. This new CJR mandates the proposed cadmium limits and has introduced one of the most stringent lead content limits for (accessible) substrates in the children’s jewellery products industry.
Meanwhile, jewellery destined for the Brazilian market is governed by Ordinance Number 43 of January 22, 2016. This regulation also came into effect in January 2016 and it restricts the use of cadmium and lead in jewellery.
In China, jewellery is regulated by two mandatory national standards. These are GB 28480 or “Adornment-Provision for limit of baneful elements” and GB 11887 or “Jewellery-Fineness precious metal alloys and designation.”
In July 2017, Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry published Ministerial Decision 148/2017 of July 10, 2017, regulating children’s jewellery to ASTM F2923 and adult jewellery to ASTM F2999. These came into effect in January 2018.
← Back