Chinas textile enterprises should pay attention to EUs NPE ban

Recently, the EU passed the NPE ban, that is, the prohibition of NPE (nonylphenol ethoxylate) in textiles. The ban came into effect in August this year. After its implementation, textiles with NPE concentration greater than  equal to 0.01% (100ppm) will be banned  entering the EU market after the transition period. NPE is a kind of nonionic surfactant, which is formed by condensation of nonylphenol  ethylene oxide. As the world's recognized environmental hormone, NPE in textiles can enter the water environment with the first  second water washing of consumers,  decompose more toxic components such as NP (nonylphenol). These substances will accumulate in fish, affect their breeding  growth,  gradually enlarge through the food chain, thus affecting human health.

In fact, the EU banned the use of NPE in textile production as early as 10 years ago. According to Article 46 of annex XVII of EU REACH Regulation (registration, evaluation, authorization  restriction of chemicals): products with NPE concentration of 0.1%  higher are prohibited for textile processing. However, it is the first time to limit the NPE content of textiles. The EU is a big market for China's textile export. Once the ban is implemented, it will have a great impact on China's textile export industry.

Adverse effects: on the one hand, the recall risk of Chinese textiles exported to Europe has increased sharply. Generally speaking, after the formal implementation of a ban, EU officials will focus on monitoring the corresponding products on the market by means of market spot check. Once the product quality  safety are unqualified, it will face the risk of notification of recall. For example, in October 2013, the EU formally banned lead for jewelry products, which directly led to 39 notifications of jewelry products exported to Europe by the EU rapid reporting system for non food consumer goods (RApex) in 2014, a year-on-year increase of 129.41%. In addition, China's compulsory standard for textile products GB 18401-2010 "national basic safety technical specifications for textile products" does  make mandatory requirements for NPE  other items. According to the market sampling results of Greenpeace International in recent years, two-thirds of the major textile  garment production countries including China have NPE residue problems,  Adidas, Li Ning, Youngor, Puma  other products have  been spared; on the other hand, the cost of textile production enterprises exported to Europe may increase. NPE has been widely used as cleaning agent, dyeing agent  washing agent in textile production because of its good permeability, emulsification  dispersion. The ban will force China's textile manufacturers to adjust bleaching, refining, dyeing  other processes, seek other printing  dyeing auxiliaries as substitutes,  lead to the increase of production costs.

Favorable effects: on the one hand, in the trend of "textile  garment orders fly southeast", if the ban is properly handled, the challenges will be turned into opportunities,  the technical advantages will be used to open up the quality level of products with Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia  other countries,  to seize the EU market  increase the proportion of China's manufacturing in the EU market; on the other hand, to promote China's textile production enterprises to adopt clean technology Production technology may indirectly alleviate the water pollution caused by NPE industrial wastewater discharge in textile printing  dyeing industry.

Special suggestions: first, we should continue to follow up the legislation  implementation of the EU NPE ban, make full use of the WTO / TBT Agreement  other international rules  the way of notification  evaluation to strengthen the communication  consultation with the EU,  strive for the rights  interests of China's textile enterprises in terms of the "buffer period", "exemption clause", "NPE limit"  other substantive contents of the ban. The second is to strengthen the supervision  management of the industry by means of spot check outside the catalogue. The NPE content of textile  clothing will be included in the out of catalog spot check items,  the actual situation of NPE content in the products will be found out by referring to the corresponding conformity assessment procedures  testing methods of the European Union. The results will be reported to the commerce, customs, industry associations  other departments, so as to supervise the enterprises in question to improve the process  improve the overall quality level of the industry. Third, improve the information release platform  establish the information early warning mechanism. In order to avoid the impact of the EU NPE ban on China's textile industry, we should timely issue an early warning notice to remind relevant departments  enterprises to pay attention to it,  cooperate with industry associations, scientific research institutions  textile manufacturers including upstream industries (printing  dyeing, auxiliary production) to cope with it.