China notified WTO a National Standard of the P.R.C. 
On September 23, 2020, State Administration for Market Regulation of China submitted a notification, the proposed compulsory “National Standard of P.R.C., Specification for the Limitation of Harmful Substances Found in Watch Casings Contacting Directly with Skin” to WTO/TBT. The comment period for the proposed GB is 60 days from the date of notification, and the proposed date of adoption and the proposed date of implementation are still undecided. According to the preface of the standard, Chapter 4, which specifies the “limitation of hazardous substance”, and Chapter 6, which specifies the “inspection rules,” are enforceable. A summary of the notification is as follows.
Scopes of application
l Watch casings contacting directly with skin that is made of materials such as metal, cermet, inorganic glass, synthetic sapphire glass, leather, plastic, rubber and etc.
Requirements for the limitation of hazardous substances
l Requirements in the following table must be met. Items marked with ★ are subjected to the regulations.
| Regulated substances | Requirements | Metal / Cermet | Inorganic glass / Synthetic sapphire glass | Leather | Plastic, Rubber (including Polyurethane（PU）) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antimony（Sb） | ≦60 mg/kg | ★ | |||
| Barium（Ba） | ≦1000 mg/kg | ||||
| Chromium（Cr） | ≦60 mg/kg | ||||
| Selenium（Se） | ≦500 mg/kg | ||||
| Arsenic（As） | ≦25 mg/kg | ★ | |||
| Cadmium（Cd） | ≦75 mg/kg | ★ | ★ | ||
| Lead（Pb） | ≦90 mg/kg | ||||
| Mercury（Hg） | ≦60 mg/kg | ||||
| Free Formaldehyde | ≦75 mg/kg | ||||
| Pentachlorophenol（PCP） | ≦0.5 mg/kg | ||||
| Harmful Aromatic Amines | ≦30 mg/kg |
WTO/TBT notification (G/TBT/N/CHN/1467)(English)
http://tbtims.wto.org/en/RegularNotifications/View/167712?FromAllNotifications=True
Full text of notified document (Simplified Chinese)
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/CHN/20_5664_00_x.pdf
