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What’s Trending In Compliance In April 2023

Apr 25, 2023 What’s Trending In Compliance In April 2023

At Compliance & Risks we help manufacturers, retailers and their supply chain partners to monitor and manage global regulations via C2P, our compliance knowledge management platform.

These are some of the top trending compliance topics that generated the most interest globally for April 2023.

1. Maine (USA): Prohibition of Products Containing Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) Substances, House Paper 1113, Legislative Document 1214 Enacted, 2021 – Proposed Amendment – (on designating rules related to PFAS contamination) Legislative Document 495, 2023

This bill makes the following changes to the laws governing products containing perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

  1. It changes the definitions of “intentionally added PFAS” and “perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.”
  2. It changes the date for the requirement that a manufacturer of a product for sale in the State that contains intentionally added PFAS submit a written notification to the Department of Environmental Protection from January 1, 2023 to January 1, 2024. With respect to this notification, it requires a manufacturer to designate confidential business information claims in accordance with the laws of the State and the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.
  3. It removes the provision of law that provides that, effective January 1, 2030, a person may not sell, offer for sale or distribute for sale in this State any product that contains intentionally added PFAS, unless the department has determined by rule that the use of PFAS in the product is a currently unavoidable use. Current law provides that the department may by rule identify products by category or use that may not be sold, offered for sale or distributed for sale in this State if they contain intentionally added PFAS and that products in which the use of PFAS is a currently unavoidable use as determined by the department may be exempted by the department by rule.6.

2. China: Compulsory Product Certification Management for Lithium-ion Batteries and Other Products, Announcement No. 10, 2023

On 16 March 2023, the Chinese National Certification and Accreditation Administration Commission published an Announcement on compulsory product certification management for lithium-ion batteries and other products.

According to this Announcement, Compulsory product certification (CCC certification) management is implemented for power adapters/chargers for terminal products (collectively referred to as newly included products mentioned in the appendix namely power supply, mobile power, and lithium-ion cells, and battery packs).

Newly Included Products For CCC Certification:

Product type and code:

  • Power supplies (0807, 0907)
  • Mobile power (0 914)
  • Lithium-ion cells and battery packs ( 0 915 )

Enforcement:

From 1 August 2023, the designated certification body will begin the CCC certification of newly included products, and will carry out the certification work in accordance with the applicable standards listed in the “Compulsory Product Certification Implementation Rules for Information Technology Equipment” and the appendix.

From 1 August 2024, those who have not obtained the CCC certification will not be allowed to have uncertified products leave the factory for either sale, import, or use it in other business activities.

The list of designated certification bodies and laboratories for newly included products will be announced separately.

The standard GB31241-2022 “Safety Technical Specifications for Lithium-ion Batteries and Battery Packs for Portable Electronic Products” will be enforced on 1 January 2024.

3. France: Content and Conditions for Providing Information on the Presence of Substances with Proven, Presumed or Suspected Endocrine Disrupting Properties in Products, Draft Order, March 2023

Jointly proposed by the French Ministers for Health and for the Environment on 17 March 2023, this draft Order aims to specify the procedures relating to the content and conditions of presentation of the information provided for in I and II of Article L. 5232-5 of the French Public Health Code concerning:

  • the presence of substances with endocrine disrupting properties qualified as proven and presumed in the products defined in article R. 5232-19 of the public health code,
  • the presence of substances endocrine disrupting properties qualified as suspected in the categories of products presenting a particular risk of exposure mentioned in II of Article L. 5232-5 of the Code.

The required information must be provided by producers, importers or distributors of products marketed under their own brand and be accessible to all. 

The provision of information set out in paragraph I of Article L 5232-5 of the Code applies to the assembly consisting of the product and its primary packaging or sales packaging when the concentration of a proven or presumed endocrine-disrupting substance is greater than 0.1% in mass percentage either in the product or in its packaging. 

The provision of information set out in paragraph II of Article L 5232-5 of the Code applies to the assembly consisting of the product and its primary packaging or sales packaging when the concentration of a suspected endocrine-disrupting substance is greater than 0.1% in mass percentage either in the product or in its packaging.

The information shall be expressed in the form of a statement setting out that the product contains one (or more) substance(s) with proved or presumed (or, in relevant cases, suspected) endocrine disrupting properties. This statement is supplemented by the name of the substance(s) concerned, which shall correspond to the name of the substance as mentioned in tables A, Abis, B or Bbis of Appendix I of the Order issued pursuant to Article R 5232-19 of the Code. The information must also specify whether the substance(s) is(are) present in the product or in its packaging.

Paragraphs 5 and 6 of Section 3 of the proposed Order also detail relevant statements to be provided in the cases of foodstuffs or medical devices containing substances appearing in Table Abis or Bbis of Appendix I of the aforementioned Order. 

The draft Order is proposed to enter into force on the day after its publication. 

4. EU: Framework for Ensuring a Secure and Sustainable Supply of Critical Raw Materials, Draft Regulation, March 2023

  1. The general objective of this Regulation is to improve the functioning of the internal market by establishing a framework to ensure the Union’s access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.
  2. To achieve the general objective referred to in paragraph 1, this Regulation aims to:
    (a) strengthen the different stages of the strategic raw materials value chain with a view to ensure that, by 2030, Union capacities for each strategic raw material have significantly increased so that, overall, Union capacity approaches or reaches the following benchmarks:

    (i) Union extraction capacity is able to extract the ores, minerals or concentrates needed to produce at least 10% of the Union’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials, to the extent that the Union’s reserves allow for this;

    (ii) Union processing capacity, including for all intermediate processing steps, is able to produce at least 40% of the Union’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials;

    (iii) Union recycling capacity, including for all intermediate recycling steps, is able to produce at least 15% of the Union’s annual consumption of strategic raw materials.

    (b) diversify the Union’s imports of strategic raw materials with a view to ensure that, by 2030, the Union’s annual consumption of each strategic raw material at any relevant stage of processing can rely on imports from several third countries, none of which provide more than 65% of the Union’s annual consumption;

    (c) improve the Union’s ability to monitor and mitigate the supply risk related to critical raw materials;

    (d) ensure the free movement of critical raw materials and products containing critical raw materials placed on the Union market while ensuring a high level of environmental protection, by improving their circularity and sustainability.

5. Brazil: Establishment of Reverse Logistics Certificates, Decree No. 11413, 2023

On 13 February 2023, the Brazilian President published Decree No. 11413 which establishes the Reverse Logistics Recycling Credit Certificate – CCRLR, the General Packaging Structuring and Recycling Certificate – CERE and the Future Mass Credit Certificate, according to the reverse logistics systems referred to in Article 33 of Law No. 12.305/2010.

This Decree applies to legal and natural persons who develop actions related to reverse logistics, integrated management, and management of solid waste.

Requesting the issuance and acquisition of these certificates (CCRLR, CERE and the Future Mass Credit Certificate) is voluntary.

As per Article 3, the objectives of these certificates are:

  • to improve the implementation and operation of the physical and logistics infrastructure;
  • to provide scale gains in waste recycling;
  • to enable collaboration between reverse logistics and recycling systems;
  • to adopt measures for the non-generation and reduction of solid waste and materials waste in the life cycle of products;
  • to promote the use of solid waste and its direction to its productive chain or other productive chains;
  • to make the interests of economic agents and the business management processes compatible with those of environmental management through the development of sustainable strategies;
  • to encourage the use of inputs with low environmental impact;
  • to encourage the development, production, and consumption of products derived from recycled and recyclable materials;
  • to encourage productive, efficient, and sustainable activities through the use of products and packaging with greater recyclability and recycled content;
  • to enable additional value for the recycling chain, primarily for individual collectors or collectors linked to cooperatives or other association and organisation forms.

This Decree shall come into force on 14 April 2023.

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This information is based on the most viewed regulations on C2P this month. If you would like to stay up to date with global regulations, sign up to our monthly newsletter.

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