Understanding Packaging & Label Industry Regulatory Compliance Codes

You may have noticed on all of our label materials pages on the website we have now listed all of the industry regulations that our materials are compliant with. Some of you that deal with this stuff regularly will understand what it all means. We also know that there are many of our customers that do not understand what these regulations are so we figured we would explain them a little more in this post. In most cases these regulations are not relevant for many of our customers, but there are also many customers that do need to know them. We think that everyone should understand exactly what these regulations mean, and why they are important to comply with.

• CONEG

The CONEG regulations state that materials used for packaging purposes cannot contain mercury, cadmium, or hexavalent chromium that has been intentionally added by the manufacturer. If a material is compliant with this regulation you will know that it has been inspected and safe.

• REACH Compliance

The REACH Regulation means: Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals. REACH deals with the manufacturing of chemicals and their impact on health and environment according to the European Chemical Agency. To comply with standards under this regulation all products that are exported to Europe are required to register any substances that are potentially dangerous to people and the environment, this regulation comes into effect if the exports are 1 metric ton or more. This regulation applies to cleaning products, paints, chemicals that are used in clothes, furniture, and even household appliances.

• ROHS

This is another regulation that deals with exports to Europe. RoHS restricts the use of hazardous substances in both electrical and electronic equipment. The 6 banned hazardous substances that fall under this regulation are lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). Some States in the US have also started regulating these hazardous materials, but it is not a Federal restriction yet, but it may be someday soon.

• CPSIA

CPSIA is the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. This regulation was created in order to regulate products that are imported into the US. With many public safety concerns over dangerous substances such as lead in children’s’ toys, this restricts the use of lead and phthalates in all products that are created for children that are under the age of 12.

• BS5609

The BS5609 approval, or “Marine Immersion”, is a British regulation that deals with pressure sensitive labels when they are being used for labeling dangerous goods that are transported by boats. Section 2 of this regulation applies rates the durability of adhesive label materials when it comes to sea immersion, adhesion, color fastness, as well as temperature changes. This is an issue because many times labels are applied to drums carrying harmful chemicals, so all of the labels that are used on these drums which are transported by sea need to comply.

• FDA 21 CFR 175.105

FDA 21 CFR 175.105 is a regulation for pressure sensitive labels when they are intended to be used in the packaging of food products. It regulates individual substances that are used to manufacture labels since there is a chance that some of these chemicals can migrate to food.