UKAS accredits Bureau Veritas for leather Chromium VI test

20 Feb '14

3 min read

Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services UK, whose testing laboratory is located in Warrington, Cheshire, is pleased to announce it has been accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to test for Chromium VI in leather products.

Bureau Veritas’ UK laboratory now has the capability to meet the challenges brought by the amendment of Annex XVII of the REACH regulation imposing a restriction on Chromium VI in leather articles that come into direct and prolonged or repetitive contact with the skin.

The changes, which are due to come into force in the first quarter of 2015, have an impact on a wide range of products such as footwear, gloves, garments, accessories such as hats, belts, braces, watchstraps, purses, wallets, bags, horse riding equipment, dog leads, car seats and furniture.

The new requirement prohibits the placing of leather articles and articles containing leather parts on the market if the content of Chromium VI is equal to or greater than 3 mg/kg of the total dry weight of leather in the leather article or the leather parts. This is not applicable to second-hand items.

Chromium VI is known to cause severe allergic contact dermatitis in humans and is able to elicit dermatitis at very low concentrations. Much of the world’s leather production is tanned with chromium salts which enable the finished leather to be suitable for a range of end use products.

Chromium VI is not intentionally used in the preparation of leather from skins and hides and in the manufacturing of articles of leather, but may be formed during the processing by oxidation of Chromium III used for the tanning of the leather. The only internationally recognised analytical method available to detect Chrome VI in leather is EN ISO 17075.

To connect manufacturers and suppliers with buying houses and fashion brands, Fibre2fashion.com is coming up with an online fair on Leather “Skin Show 2014” scheduled in Mid March-2014.

Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services

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