Denmark postpones the national ban on 4 phthalates in articles by 2 years

1. July, 2013

Relevant for: Electrical & electronics, Hardlines, Softlines, Children's products

On 28 May 2013, the Danish Ministry of Environment announced the national ban on the 4 phthalates, DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP, will be postponed by 2 years.

We reported the original ban in Vol. 67 of E-ssentials, which would have become effective on 1 December 2013 for non-electrical and electronic products, and 1 December 2014 for electrical and electronic products.  Each of these dates has now been postponed by 2 years as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: The old and new effective dates for the Danish national ban on the 4 phthalates in articles.

The postponement is due to the widespread use of these phthalates and the Danish authorities recognised that manufacturers would not be able to replace in them time for compliance by the original effective dates.

The Danish Ministry of Environment and a number of Danish industry sectors will work together to implement the following initiatives:

• Actively support a ban on phthalates in the EU;
• Preparing a guideline aimed at supporting enterprises in phasing out their use of phthalates, as well as helping them identify products with phthalates and find suitable substitutes;
• Meeting regularly to discuss how to promote the phasing out of the 4 phthalates;
• Examining the options for labeling the relevant products that do not contain the 4 phthalates.

As a recap: On 30 November 2012, the Danish Order No. 1113 of 26/11/2012 for a national ban on the import and sale of products containing any of the four phthalates DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP at a concentration greater than 0.1% by weight was published. 

The scope of the ban covers:

• products intended for indoor use; and
• products that may come into contact with the skin or mucous membranes.

 The following are excluded from the scope of the ban:

• Medical devices
• Inner packaging of medicinal products
• Toys
• Childcare articles in the case of DEHP, DBP and BBP
• Cosmetic products
• Materials and articles intended for contact with food
• Used goods that already complied with the Danish requirements when first sold on the market.

References:
Announcement of the postponement by the Danish Ministry of Environment
TÜV SÜD Consumer Products E-ssentials Vol. 67
Order No. 1113 of 26/11/2012 Banning the Import and Sale of Products for Indoor Use Containing Phthalates DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP, and Items Containing these Substances that can come into contact with the Skin or Mucous Membranes