Second public consultation on restricting lead in jewellery

News Alert

ECHA/NA/11/12
Media enquiries: ECHA Press

ECHA calls for comments on the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis' draft opinion on a restriction concerning the placing on the market of jewellery products containing lead or its compounds. The deadline for comments is 28 May 2011.

Helsinki, 29 March 2011 - A first public consultation of the restriction proposal submitted by France on lead in jewellery took place from June to December 2010. The proposal has been discussed in the ECHA Committees for Risk Assessment (RAC) and Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) taking into account the comments received during the first public consultation and the advice from the Forum on enforceability.

RAC adopted its opinion that jewellery containing lead may significantly contribute to the exposure of infants to lead when they put it in their mouths, and that a restriction is therefore appropriate (15th meeting on 8-11 March 2011).

SEAC agreed a draft opinion concluding that the restriction was justifiable from a socio-economic point of view (10th meeting on 9-11 March 2011).

In line with the REACH regulation, ECHA organises a second public consultation and invites interested parties to comment on the proposed restriction as developed in the SEAC draft opinion by 28 May 2011.

Interested parties can comment on the draft opinion by clicking the "give comments" link at: 

Restrictions under consideration

Comments will be reviewed and taken into account by SEAC when adopting its final opinion, for which the legal deadline is 19 September 2011.

ECHA will then submit the opinions of RAC and SEAC to the European Commission. The final decision on the restriction is taken by the European Commission through a regulatory committee procedure with scrutiny.