China releases draft mandatory standards for hazardous substance limits on musical instruments to solicit comments

On June 16, 2022, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a draft (pending approval) of mandatory national standards called Limits of Hazardous Substances for Musical Instruments to solicit public comments. Comments will be accepted through July 16, 2022. The standards are a revision of the only existing national standards for hazardous substances in musical instruments (GB/T 28489-2012). A notification of these standards was submitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Aug. 16, 2021. The revision would upgrade the status of the national standards from recommended to mandatory. The limits on aromatic amine dyes, tetrachlorophenol (TeCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) content newly introduced by the revision are stricter than the WTO notification version of the standards. Products noncompliant with the new standards would not be allowed to be sold from 12 months after the standards take effect.