At a meeting on 9 Aug. 2016, the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has agreed on changes to 'simplify' its regulation of the safety of textiles, clothing and their accessories.

The move results from EU and European industry’s idea that the compulsory certification of compliance created unnecessary barriers to trade.

The highlights for the meeting including the following:

l Changes made that apply to carpets, felts, non-woven fabrics and other products.

l Net migration limit for chromium in fur products is reduced to 3mg/kg

l And new standards have been set for substances in textiles and light industry products made out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane to control migration of cadmium, chloroethyl, toluene diisocyanate and zinc from the inner surface of footwear. (In the past controls only applied to exterior surfaces.)

The amendments will go into force a year after all four member countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Armenia) have signed the regulation.

Previously, manufacturers of certain textiles and clothing had to get a certificate of conformity for the items. Once the regulation is in place they will only need to declare if the articles contain harmful substances. C&K Testing advises businesses to deal with due care.