China notified WTO a Standard- “Content Limitation of Mercury, Cadmium and Lead for Zinc Anode Primary Battery” 
On November 6, 2020, State Administration for Market Regulation of China submitted a notification, which is about an enforceable national standard –”Content limitation of mercury, cadmium and lead for zinc anode primary battery” to WTO/TBT. The notified document is open for comments in 60 days from the notification. The date of adoption and the date of enter into force are still undecided at current.
Enforcement
The full text of the document is enforceable.
Scope of application
- The limits of mercury, cadmium and lead content in standardized zinc manganese dioxide batteries, zinc silver oxide batteries and zinc air batteries.
- The production, inspection and acceptance of the above-mentioned batteries and batteries composed of several single batteries.
Limitation requirements for contents (the unit is ug/g)
| Type of battery | Model (Refer to GB/T 8897.2、GB/T 8897.3 for details） | Content of mercury | Content of cadmium | Content of lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| zinc silver oxide button battery | SR41、SR42、SR43、SR44、SR48、SR54、SR55、SR57、SR58、SR59、SR60、SR62、SR63、SR64、SR65、SR66、SR67、SR68、SR69 | ≦5 | ≦40 | ≦200 |
| SR516、SR521、SR527、SR614、SR616、SR621、SR626、SR712、SR714、SR716、SR721、SR726、SR731、SR736、SR754、SR916、SR920、SR921、SR927、SR936、SR1116、SR1120、SR1121、SR1126、SR1130、SR1136、SR1142、SR1154 | ≦5 | ≦40 | ≦200 | |
| alkaline zinc air button battery | PR70、PR41、PR48、PR44 | ≦5 | ≦40 | ≦500 |
| alkaline zinc manganese dioxide button battery | LR41、LR43、LR44、LR55、LR54、LR9、4LR44 | ≦5 | ≦20 | ≦40 |
| non-alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery | R1、R03、R6P、R6S、R14P、R14S、R20P、R20S、3R12P、3R12S、4R25X、4R25Y、4R25-2、6F22 | ≦1 | ≦100 | ≦1000 |
| alkaline zinc manganese dioxide battery | LR8D425、LR1、LR03、LR6、LR14、LR20、3LR12、4LR61、4LR25X、4LR25-2、6LR61、6LP3146 | ≦1 | ≦10 | ≦40 |
Regulations for hazardous substances labeling
- When the mercury content of button battery is not more than 5ug/g, and the mercury content of other batteries is not more than 1ug/g, it can be marked as “No Mercury”.
- When the cadmium content of battery is not more than 20ug/g, it can be marked as “No Cadmium”.
- When the lead content of battery is not more than 40ug/g, it can be marked as “No Lead”.
About the original text of the WTO/TBT notified document-“Content limitation of mercury, cadmium and lead for zinc anode primary battery”, you can find it from the link below. (Simplified Chinese)
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2020/TBT/CHN/20_6850_00_x.pdf
For the details of the notification(G/TBT/N/CHN/1503) of WTO, please refer to the content of link below. (English)
http://tbtims.wto.org/en/RegularNotifications/View/168650?FromAllNotifications=True
