In September 2020, European National enforcement authorities and customs inspectors were checked at strategic entry points in the countries, such as airports and harbors but also at inland customs offices. They found that more than 23% of the total products were found to be non-compliant with certain obligations under REACH and the Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) regulations.

For REACH, most of the checks addressed compliance with REACH restriction obligations, focusing on the presence of the restricted substances cadmium, lead, and nickel in articles and 17 % of the products had amounts of the restricted substances above the required limit. Most of the products were coming from China, as well as from the United Arab Emirates, India, Thailand, North Macedonia, and Madagascar. So ECHA encourages all the Importers of articles containing chemical substances must ensure that products placed on the EU market are compliant with REACH obligations.

For CLP, 64 % were found to be non-compliant and Most of the non-compliances were related to labeling requirements, most commonly a lack of national language, and lack of or use of incorrect pictograms and signal words on the hazard label.

The results show that importers need to intensify their efforts to supply safe products that are compliant with REACH and CLP. They also show there is a continued need for targeted enforcement on these specific restrictions and more stringent enforcement of REACH and CLP at European points of entrance.

Reference link: https://echa.europa.eu/