Strengthened Enforcement Actions for Non-Compliant Products Containing SCCPs in EU
The numbers of enforcement actions taken against products containing Short Chain Chlorinated Paraffins (SCCPs) violating the Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulation (POP Regulation (EC) No 850/2004) are increased in 2018.
In recent years, a significant increase of products has been reported due to excessive SCCPs content in accordance to EU’s POPs regulation in the European Union market.
From 2013 to 2018, certain products were reported in EU according to European Commission - Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products (RAPEX) due to the presence of SCCPs, including electronic and electrical equipment (EEE), toys and other hard goods. Total 119 cases were reported with the penalty on withdrawing from market or recalling from end users these years.
According to RAPEX, 16 products have been reported for containing SCCPs in the first 16 weeks of 2018, which equals to half of the total reported cases in 2017. In 2018, four EEE were reported violating POP Regulation with excessive SCCPs content:
|
Product |
Alert number |
Violation |
Limit |
Penalty |
|
LED light |
A12/0234/18 |
0.556% SCCP |
0.15% according to POP Regulation (EC) No. 850/2004 |
Withdrawal of the product from the market |
|
Network cable |
A12/0231/18 |
0.241% SCCP |
Withdrawal of the product from the market |
|
|
Lighting chains |
A12/0017/18 |
1.1% SCCP |
Withdrawal of the product from the market |
|
|
Game controller |
A12/0088/18 |
5.3% SCCP |
Destruction of the product, recall of the product from end users |
Since 2013, EU member states continuously stepped up their effort in inspecting products for SCCPs content in the marketplace. Below table summarizes the number of non-compliant products containing SCCPs from 2013 to 2018 according to RAPEX:
|
YEAR |
NO. OF REPORTED CASES |
|
2018 (Jan to Apr) |
16 |
|
2017 |
32 |
|
2016 |
26 |
|
2015 |
16 |
|
2014 |
20 |
|
2013 |
9 |
SCCPs persist in the environment which are toxic to aquatic organisms at low concentrations and bioaccumulate in wildlife and humans, posing a risk to human health and the environment.
As SCCPs are commonly used as plasticizer, rubber compounding, coatings, adhesives, sealants and flame retardant in electronic and electrical equipment, Intertek Hong Kong recommends you pay more attention to the SCCP content in your equipment to ensure your product compliance.
