Bureau Veritas accredited to test for chrome VI
20/02/2014
As a result, Bureau Veritas will be able to carry out tests “to meet the challenges brought by the amendment of Annex XVII of the REACH regulation” at its laboratory in Warrington.
This annex of the much wider REACH legislation the European Commission is in the process of introducing imposes a restriction on chromium VI in leather articles that come into “direct and prolonged or repetitive contact with the skin”.
Changes that will come into force in the first quarter of 2015 will, potentially, have an impact on a wide range of products, including footwear, gloves, garments, accessories, car seats and furniture. The new requirement prohibits content of chromium VI equal to or greater than 3 milligrammes per kilo of the total dry weight of leather, three parts per million. This is not applicable to second-hand items.
“Much of the world’s leather production is tanned with chromium salts,” Bureau Veritas said in a statement. “Chromium VI is not intentionally used in the preparation of leather but may be formed during the processing by oxidation of chromium III, used for the tanning of the leather.”
It said: “The only internationally recognised analytical method available to detect chrome VI in leather is EN ISO 17075.” It is this test that the testing services provider is now accredited to carry out.
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