China announces its plan to add four phthalates to RoHS2

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in China made an announcement explaining China’s plan to make stronger its restriction of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products under its RoHS-like regulation (RoHS2) within the next three years.

China plans to add four phthalates to the scope RoHS2 covers. These four phthalates are DEHP, BBP, DBP, and DIBP. China proposes adding four phthalates to RoHS2 and to this effect, the ministry will start revising the requirements of GBT 26572-2011 on restricted substances and their concentration limits in electrical and electronic products. The revision will start in July 2022 all through to November set as the deadline to complete the revision.

Compliance with regulations for these substances means that companies must label the products that contain the phthalates, and the substances must not exceed the concentration limits. Products also have to be labelled according to the marking standard SJ/T11364-2014 which specifically explains the marking requirements for hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products, recyclability and the environmental protection use period. Seeing as a consultation opened on March 15 and closed on March 25, 2022, a significant change is expected regarding the addition of the four phthalates. A revised version of this standard is expected to be published in November 2022. While waiting for this new revision to be published in November 2022, the MIIT has started to draft a policy document to widen RoHS2 substances control to include the new addition, and there will most likely be a 180-day transition period after its publication.