From December 1, 2020, the new national standards for coatings, inks, adhesives and cleaning agents have been officially implemented. The implementation and supervision of the new national standard has played an important role in China's environmental protection, and can also further regulate the healthy development of the industry. The new national standards not only control domestic coatings, imported coatings are also the subject of supervision by Chinese customs.

Recently, customs in many places have notified that non-compliant coating products have been investigated, and have been destroyed or returned due to violation of the relevant limit requirements in the “Limit of harmful substances of industrial protective coating” (GB 30981-2020).

Shanghai Customs: Investigated and dealt with 1 batch of illegally imported paints (January), with the content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exceeded the standards.

Tianjin Customs: Investigated and dealt with 1 batch of illegally imported paints (January), with the content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exceeding the standards.

Guangdong Customs: Investigated and punished 2 batches of illegally imported coatings (March), and the total content of glycol ethers and ether esters, and the total content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons exceeding the standard by 5 times and 17 times, respectively, which did not meet the requirements of China's mandatory standard "Limit of harmful substances of industrial protective coating” (GB 30981-2020). Xinsha Customs issued a return notice for the two batches of goods in accordance with the law, and notified the enterprise to handle the return procedures in accordance with regulations.

In addition, on April 8, 2021, Shenzhen Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Notice on the Results of the 2020 Industrial Coating Industry Coating Product Quality Supervision Spot Check” focusing on the testing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the industrial coating industry. A total of 14 batches of products sold by 12 companies were spot-checked. 4 batches of unqualified samples were found in the inspection. The discovery rate of unqualified products was 28.6%.

Furthermore, the new national standards for inks, adhesives, and cleaning agents also subdivide the use/components of the products and put forward higher requirements for environmental protection and safety. With the implementation of standards and the development of special enforcement actions for VOC rectification, companies involved in the production, application and import of these four types of products must understand the requirements of relevant VOC control standards to avoid violation of laws and regulations.

Suggestions

Enterprises need to understand the regulatory requirements, formulate a management and control plan suitable for their own company, and determine the compliance of their products through testing or supply chain investigations. CIRS C&K Testing can provide enterprises with targeted service solutions, assisting companies in completing hazardous substance investigations, responding to regulatory requirements in a timely manner, reducing corporate import risks, and continuing to follow up on regulatory developments to provide strong technical support for the smooth import of corporate products.

C&K testing can perform professional VOC and other harmful substances limit testing according to the requirements of GB 18581-2020, GB 18582-2020, GB 30981-2020, GB 24409-2020, GB 33372-2020, GB 38507-2020, GB 38508-2020 and other standards, and help manufacturers adjust formulas in real time, and import/use/operate companies to ensure that relevant products meet national requirements.

If you have any needs or questions, please contact us at test@cirs-group.com.

For details: Focusing on VOC New National Standard Testing-Winning the Battle against Air Pollution