This Technical Report is intended to provide information on the chemicals listed in the Candidate List / Annex XIV of the Regulation (EC) 1907/2006, also known as REACH (Regulation, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) and their usage and presence in the footwear industry.
The Annex XIV, overseen by the ECHA (European Chemicals Agency), is a list of substances subject to authorization, substances of very high concern (SVHC). Before the inclusion of a substance in the Annex XIV, the procedure is strictly fixed:
- A European member state shall propose it to ECHA.
- ECHA inform all the members’ state and a first enquiry is done in order to include the substance to the candidate list of Annex XIV.
- After the agreement of the member’s state, ECHA includes the substances in the candidate list to Annex XIV. As soon as a substance has been included in the candidate list, it should be taken into account exactly as a SVHC.
- ECHA prioritises the substances from the Candidate List to determine which ones should be included in the Authorisation List (Annex XIV of REACH) and therefore, subject to authorisation. ECHA regularly submits recommendations to the European Commission, who will decide on the substances to be included in the Authorisation List.
Following the evaluation of the Annex XIV substances, ECHA can take the decision to restrict the substances. This restriction may take the form of an authorization for use, an authorisation only for specific applications in specified fields or, in some cases, a complete ban on the use of the substance.
During the evaluation process, these chemicals are not forbidden or limited in use. The regulation requires that the user shall be informed if one or more of these substances are present in any part of the article in quantity over 0,1 % by weight.
This Technical Report shows which of these chemicals may be present in footwear materials and the footwear industry in order to help shoe manufacturers to collect mandatory information from suppliers regarding the content of these chemicals and, at same time, allow them to provide accurate information to their customers.
The test methods reported in Annex 1 are informative only to identify where these chemicals may be found and control the use along the supply chain where their suppliers are not under the jurisdiction of the REACH Regulation.
Taking into account final decision of the European Commission, ECHA, implements the Annex XIV and the candidate list to Annex XIV of REACH, regularly. This revision interval is difficult to follow by the standardization procedures.
Therefore this document reflects the situation at the date of June 2014. This document will be annually revised.
This Technical Report does not concern the substances for which restriction have been already enacted under Annex XVII of REACH.
NOTE Chemicals that are restricted under Annex XVII, are identified as a category 1 chemical in CEN ISO/TR 16178.
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