In February 2018, the European Commission (EC) proposed to amend Annex XVII of REACH directive by adding new entry to restrict the presence of 33 chemicals in clothing, footwear and textile products.

Below tables show those  newly restricted chemicals and their respective limits:

No.CategoriesChemicalsLimits
1Extractable Heavy elementsCadmium and its compounds1 mg/kg (expressed as each metal that can be extracted from the material) 
2Chromium VI compounds
3Arsenic compounds
4Lead and its compounds 
5PolycyclicAromaticHydrocarbonsBenz[a]anthracene1 mg/kg each 
6Benz [e] acephenanthrylene 
7Benzo [a] pyrene;Benzo [def] chrysene 
8Benzo [e] pyrene 
9Benzo [j] fluoranthene 
10Benzo [k] fluoranthene 
11Chrysene 
12Dibenz [a,h] anthracene 
13Chlorotoluenesa, a, a, 4-tetrachlorotoluene;p-chlorobenzotrichloride1 mg/kg each 
14a, a, a, -trichlorotoluene;benzotrichloride 
15a-chlorotoluene; benzyl chloride 
16FormaldehydeFormaldehyde75 mg/kg 
17Phthalates1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid;di-C 6-8-branched alkylesters,C 7-rich1000 mg/kg individually or in combination with other phthalates in this entry or in other entries of Annex XVII 
18Bis(2-methoxyethyl) phthalate 
19Diisopentylphthalate 
20Di-n-pentyl phthalate (DPP) 
21Di-n-hexyl phthalate (DnHP) 
22SolventsBenzene5 mg/kg
23N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone; 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP)3000 mg/kg each
24N,N-dimethylacetamide(DMAC)
25N,N-dimethylformamide;dimethyl formamide (DMF)
26Dyestuffs1,4,5,8-tetraaminoanthraquinone; C.I. Disperse Blue 150 mg/kg each
27Benzenamine, 4,4′-(4-iminocyclohexa-2,5-dienylidenemethylene) dianilinehydrochloride; C.I. Basic Red 9
28[4-[4,4′-bis(dimethylamino) benzhydrylidene]cyclohexa-2,5-dien-1-ylidene] dimethylammoniumchloride; C.I. Basic Violet 3with ≥ 0,1 % of Michler’sketone (EC no. 202-027-5)
29Others4-chloro-o-toluidinium chloride30 mg/kg each
302-Naphthylammoniumacetate
314-methoxy-m-phenylenediammonium sulphate; 2,4-diaminoanisole sulphate
322,4,5-trimethylaniline hydrochloride
33Quinoline50 mg/kg

Several articles are exempted from the requirements:

  • Clothing, related accessories or footwear, or parts of clothing, related accessories or footwear, made exclusively of natural leather, fur or hide.
  • Non-textile fasteners and non-textile decorative attachments.
  • Second-hand clothing, related accessories, textiles other than clothing or footwear.
  • Personal protective equipment and medical devices within the scope of Regulation (EU) 2016/425 and Regulation (EU) 2017/745 respectively.
  • Disposable textiles, which are textiles that are designed to be used only once or for a limited time and are not intended for subsequent use for the same or a similar purpose.