Vietnam Proposes New Rules for Formaldehyde and Azo Dyes Requirements in Textile Products

Vol. 859 | 15 Oct 2015

 

A new draft circular has been put in place by the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) that calls for specific requirements to limit the content of formaldehyde and Azo dyes in textile products manufactured, imported and traded in Vietnam.

If approved, this new circular shall replace Circular No. 32/2009/TT-BCT dated 5^th Nov 2009 and will be effective starting from February 2016.

Following Circular No. 32/2009/TT-BCT, the new circular states the same permitted limits of formaldehyde and Azo dye content in textile products, however, it notes clearer requirements on sampling methods, referring to updated test method standards and giving relevant quality management requirements. Below we have highlighted some of the changes:

 

Scope:

Textile products that are covered within the restricted category are listed in Annex 1 of the new circular. Below are some typical examples:

1. Wearing apparel, e.g., skirt, pants, jackets, underwear socks, gloves, hats, ties
2. Home textiles, e.g., bed linen, blankets and travelling rugs, towels
3. Articles of leather, travel goods, handbags and similar containers
4. Carpet, floorcoverings and curtains
5. Cleaning cloths, e.g., floor cloths, dish cloths, dusters or similar cleaning cloths
6. Footwear
7. Umbrellas (including walking-stick umbrella, garden umbrellas and similar umbrellas)
8. Human hair, dresses, thinned, bleached or otherwise worked; wool or other animal hair or other textile materials, prepared for use in marking wigs or the like
9. Mattress supports, articles of bedding and similar furnishings 

The scope of the restriction does not apply to untreated yarn, untreated fabric, fabrics imported for processing export products, textile products in transit or stored in customs warehouses, textile products temporarily imported for re-export and types of products made from textile materials used in industrial production.

 

Test Methods and Requirements

This new draft keeps the same content limits for the regulated chemicals and list of restricted aromatic amines as circular no. 32/2009/TT-BCT, but the test methods are updated as follows

Test Items	Test Method	Requirement
Formaldehyde	TCVN 7421-1:2013 ; or ISO 14184-1:2011	For children under 36 months ≤ 30 mg/kg Direct contact with skin ≤ 75 mg/kg Indirect contact with skin ≤ 300 mg/kg
Azo dyes	EN 14362-1:2012 and EN 14362-3:2012 Or ISO 24362-1:2014 and ISO 24362-3:2014	≤ 30 mg/kg (22 aromatic amines)

 

Conformity Assessment for Textile Products:

All textile products imported, distributed and marketed in Vietnam are required to provide a certificate that should be issued by an accredited testing laboratory or recognized by MOIT to ensure the amount of formaldehyde and Azo dyes does not exceed the specified limit.

Intertek Vietnam is one of the approved laboratories to conduct captioned testing.

 

For inquiries, please contact:

Ho Chi Minh City: Ms. Lan Le
Tel.: +84 8 6297 1099
Email: lan.le@intertek.com

Hanoi: Ms. Hien Duong
Tel.: +84 4 3733 7094
Email: hien.duong@intertek.com