Quality Supervision Department Warning: Textile And Leather Products Export To EU Will Be Limited

The European Union directive on restricting the sale and use of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) (PFOS directive) will come into effect on June 27th.

According to the directive, the PFOS content of the finished products sold in the EU market should not exceed 0.005% of the total quality.

China's textile and leather products export enterprises will be affected.

According to the introduction, PFOS is the main active ingredient of antifouling agent for textile and leather products. It is widely used in the field of civil and industrial products production. It has high bioaccumulation and a variety of toxicities. It will not only cause respiratory problems, but also lead to the death of new born babies. The global pollution caused by it is attracting increasing attention.

Textile is one of the main export products of Hebei province. According to customs statistics, textile exports to the EU last year amounted to 570 million US dollars. The implementation of this directive will make the textile export enterprises affected by the appreciation of the RMB "add insult to injury".

According to the sampling survey conducted by the quality supervision department of Hebei Province, most export enterprises of textile and leather products in this province still do not know the PFOS directive, and even do not know whether their products contain PFOS components.

Experts have suggested that PFOS is an ideal substitute in the world. However, textile auxiliaries that can fully comply with EU's PFOS control standards have not been developed at home.

Related export enterprises should communicate with importers as soon as possible and intensify the selection, testing and application of alternative products, so as to reduce the losses caused by the implementation of instructions.