Recently, the Electrical Appliance and Electronic Product Pollution Prevention Standard Working Group of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a "Launch Meeting for Deepening the Management of Restricting the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical Appliance and Electronic Products". It introduced the current progress of international and domestic standardization in the restriction of hazardous substances in electrical appliance and electronic products. Currently, the standard working group has submitted the "Modification Draft for the Limitation Requirements of Restricted Substances in Electronic Electrical Products" (GB/T 26572-2011) standard, adding the limit requirements for 4 types of phthalate-based hazardous substances to the original 6 types. The revision is expected to be completed by the end of September 2022, and an enterprise questionnaire survey is currently underway. At the same time, a mandatory national standard "Requirements for Restricting the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electrical Appliance and Electronic Products" will be formulated.

　　Plans to add 4 new items on phthalates

　　1. DEHP: Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, as the most commonly used plasticizer, is widely used in plastic products, leather, building materials, personal care products, detergents, paints and drugs, etc. DEHP has various toxicities such as reproductive and developmental toxicity, immunotoxicity, embryotoxicity, liver toxicity and carcinogenicity, and also has estrogen-like activity that can cause changes in thyroid hormone metabolism. Due to the severe lack of human experimental data, the toxicity of DEHP to the human body has not been fully confirmed. Therefore, the WHO classifies DEHP as a 2B substance, meaning a possible carcinogen.

　　2. BBP: Butyl benzyl phthalate, as a common plasticizer and solvent, is widely used in medical, chemical, food, and construction materials products. BBP can cause liver enlargement and has obvious estrogen-like effects, testicular toxicity, and embryotoxicity. It can lead to a decrease in serum testosterone, an increase in follicle-stimulating hormone, and an enlargement of the uterus, as well as affecting gender differentiation, etc. However, the mechanism of its action is still unclear.

　　3. DBP: Di-Butyl Phthalate, which belongs to the category of plasticizers, is widely used in plastic products. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies it as a Group 3 carcinogen (Group 3 carcinogens are substances that are suspected of causing cancer in humans but for which there is insufficient human or animal data). DBP has reproductive toxicity to the testes and sperm, and may cause problems such as genital malformations in infants, precocious puberty in girls, and a tendency towards feminization in boys.

　　4. DIBP: Di-Isobutyl Phthalate, is a type of new type of plasticizer that has attracted much attention in recent years. DIBP plasticizer is still widely used in the global plastic industry and has similar harmful properties to DEHP.

　　Significance

　　Under the current backdrop of the dual-carbon goals, with the advancement of technology and continuous development of the electrical and electronic industry, new materials, new processes and new products are constantly emerging. Corresponding policies and standards are also continuously tightening and becoming more internationalized. The various work arrangements made at this meeting will be a comprehensive revision and upgrade for China's RoHS, especially the addition of four phthalate ester substances, which will have a significant impact on the domestic electrical and electronic industry.