EU-wide Ban on Bisphenols

Category: General

Country: Germany

Region: Europe

Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (German BAuA) submits dossier to ECHA to ban bisphenols

BANNED BISPHENOLS: Bisphenol A (Cas 80-05-7) Bisphenol B (Cas 77-40-7) Bisphenol F (Cas 620-92-8)

In October 2022, the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health submitted a dossier to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for an extensive ban on so-called bisphenols in chemical preparations as well as in articles and consumer products.
The ban could come into force no later than in the year 2024. The limit value for bisphenols in articles would then be 10 mg/kg.

The justification of the ban is the toxic impacts that the bisphenols exert in the environment. The five bisphenols listed above are so-called „endocrine disruptors“. They interfere with the hormone system of animals and human beings and are able to have adverse toxic effects at very low concentrations.

BPS and BPF are being used to a large extent as tanning agents in the leather industry. For leather products the ban will provide a period of five years with a limit value of 500 mg/kg. After expiration of this period the stringent limit value of 10 mg/kg will be effective as well for leather goods.

The textiles industry is using BPS and BPF in textiles materials made of polyamide (Nylon) as a colour-fixing agent (globally 80% of all polyamides are finished with colour-fixing agents).

Beyond the five bisphenols listed above, other bisphenols will be added to the ban which are proven to have a similar hormone-like activity.

The ban will be a huge challenge to the leather and textiles industry who will need to comply with the low and demanding limit value of 10 mg/kg and also find suitable replacement needed for the production of leather and textiles products.

Hohenstein services
If you have any further requests regarding bisphenols or related topics please contact our experts: customerservice@hohenstein.com