CEN publishes footwear industry guideline for substances of very high concern (SVHCs)

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) published CEN/TR 16417:2016 Footwear Industry Guideline for Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs) on 13 January 2016. The standard re-examines and outlines possible SVHCs in footwear, superseding the previous standard CEN/TR 16417:2012.
 
All the chemicals in the standard, of high likelihood to be present in footwear materials, come from Annex XIV to REACH regulation. CEN/TR 16417:2016 aims to guide shoe manufacturers to collect more mandatory information of SVHCs from their suppliers.
 
Manufacturers and importers shall notify the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) where products contain any chemical listed in CEN/TR 16417:2016 and the following occurs:

• Where the volume of such products sold by each manufacturer/importer exceeds 1 tonne; and
• If one or more of SVHCs are present in any part of the article in quantity over 0,1 % by weight.

However, the Technical Report provides no guidance on restricted substances listed in Annex XVII to REACH. C&K Testing advises shoe manufacturers to conduct product testing for REACH compliance.

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Further information
CEN/TR 16417:2016