EN    EN  
 EUROPEAN  
COMMISSION 
Brussels, XXX   
[…](2015) XXX  draft 
  
COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/… 
of XXX  
amending Annex XVII to  Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council on the Re gistration, Evaluati on, Authorisation a nd Restriction of 
Chemicals ("REACH") as regards nonylphenol ethoxylates  
(Text with EEA relevance) 
  
EN 2   EN COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) …/… 
of XXX  
amending Annex XVII to Regulation (EC)  No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament 
and of the Council concerning the Regist ration, Evaluation, Authorisation and 
Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) as  regards nonylphenol ethoxylates  
(Text with EEA relevance) 
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, 
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the Regi stration, Evaluation, Authorisation and 
Restriction of Chemicals (REA CH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending 
Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council  Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission 
Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as  well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission 
Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/ EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC
1, and in particular Article 
68 (1) thereof, 
Whereas: (1) On 2 August 2013, the Kingdom of Sweden submitted to the European Chemicals 
Agency (‘the Agency’) a dossier (‘the Anne x XV dossier’) pursuant to Article 69(4) of 
Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, in order to initia te the restriction pr ocedure set out in 
Articles 69 to 73 of that Regulation. Init ially, the Annex XV dossi er indicated that 
exposure to nonylphenol (‘NP’) and nonylphenol  ethoxylates (‘NPE’) posed a risk to 
the environment, specifically to aquatic sp ecies living in surface water. In order to 
limit such risk the dossier proposed to prohi bit the placing on the market of textile 
articles that can be washed in water, if they contained NP or NPE in concentrations 
equal to or higher than 100 mg/kg ( 0,01 % by weight). The Annex XV dossier 
demonstrated that action on a Un ion-wide basis is necessary.  
(2) During public consultation on the Annex XV dossier, Sweden recommended removing 
NP from the scope of the restriction proposal as it is not used in tentionally in textile 
processing. The exclusion of NP was consid ered justified by the Agency's Committees 
for Risk Assessment ('RAC') and Socio-Economic Analysis ('SEAC') when evaluated in terms of the effectiveness, practicalit y and monitorability of the restriction. 
Therefore, only NPE should be subj ect to the proposed restriction. 
(3) In the Annex XV dossier NPE are defined as branched and linear ethoxylates of 
nonylphenol which cover substances defi ned by CAS or EC numbers and UVCB 
substances, polymers and homologues.  The subs tances in that group are identified by 
the molecular formula (C
2H4O)nC15H24O.  
(4) Several market surveys, referred to in the Annex XV dossier, identified the presence of 
NPE in textile articles, at different concen trations. The placing on the market and use 
of NPE, as substances or in mixtures, for th e purpose of textiles and leather processing 
                                                 
1 OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p 1.  
EN 3   EN are already restricted by entry 46 of Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006. 
However, during reasonably foreseeable c onditions of washing textile articles in 
water, release of NPE into the aquatic environment poses risks to aquatic species.  
(5) For reason of coherence with Regulat ion (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council2, the proposed restriction sh ould cover textile articles 
which consist of at least 80 % of textile fibr es by weight and other textile articles that 
contain a part that consists of at least 80 % textile fibres by we ight. Furthermore, for 
reason of clarity it is convenien t to indicate that such textile articles cover   unfinished, 
semi-finished and finished goods, including prod ucts such as clothing (e.g. for people, 
toys and animals), accessories, interior textiles , fibres, yarn, fabrics and knitted panels.  
(6) On 3 June 2014, RAC adopted by consensus an  opinion on the restri ction suggested in 
the Annex XV dossier, confirming that there is  a risk due to exposure to degradation 
products of NPE. RAC further advised that a restriction is the mo st appropriate Union-
wide measure to address the risks posed by NPE in textile articles, both in terms of 
effectiveness and practicability. 
(7) On 9 September 2014, SEAC adopted by c onsensus an opinion on the restriction 
suggested in the Annex XV dossier, indicati ng that the proposed restriction on NPE is 
the most appropriate Union-wide measure to  address the risks identified in terms of 
the proportionality of socio-economic benefits to socio-economic costs. 
(8) In accordance with the Annex XV dossier and as confirmed by RAC and SEAC, the 
limit of 0.01 % by weight is the lowest concentration that is commensurate with the intentional treatment of textiles with  NPE. Comments received during the public 
consultation confirmed that a limit lo wer than 0,01 % by wei ght would present 
considerable enforcement difficulties because  textiles can become contaminated with 
NPE at such low concentrations due to  incidental exposure during the production 
process. Furthermore, reducing the limit of 0,01 % by a factor of five (to 0,002 % by 
weight) would only lower emissions by a factor of about 1,25, which would reduce 
NPE surface water concentrations by an additional 5 % compared to the limit of 0,01 % by weight.   
(9) The Forum for Exchange of Informati on on Enforcement was consulted and its 
recommendations were taken into account. 
(10) On 1 October 2014 the Agency submitted to the Commission the opinions of RAC and 
SEAC based on which the Commission conclude d that the presence of NPE in textile 
articles poses an unacceptable risk to the environment which needs to be addressed on 
a Union-wide basis. The socio-economic im pact of this rest riction, including the 
availability of alternatives, ha s been taken into account.   
(11) It is assumed that second-hand textiles wi ll usually have been washed several times 
prior to any supply or making available to  a third party and w ill therefore contain 
negligible amounts of NPE, if  any. Accordingly, the placing on the market of second-
hand textile articles should be exempted from the restriction. Similarly, recycled 
textiles may be assumed to contain negligib le amounts of NPE, if  any, and accordingly 
the restriction should not apply to new textile  articles, where those have been produced 
using exclusively recycled textiles.  
                                                
 
2  Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2011 
on textile fibre names and related labelling and marking of the fibre composition of textile products and 
repealing Council Directive 73/44/EEC and Directives 96/73/EC and 2008/121/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 272, 18.10.2011, p. 1).  
EN 4   EN (12) Stakeholders should be al lowed sufficient time to take appropriate compliance 
measures, in particular to ensure adequa te communication within the complex global 
supply chain. The new restriction should therefore only apply from a later date. 
(13) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 should th erefore be amended accordingly.  
 
(14) The measures provided for in this Regulati on are in accordance with the opinion of the 
Committee established under Article 133 of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, 
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: 
Article 1 
Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 is amended in accordance with the Annex to 
this Regulation.  
Article 2 
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in 
the Official Journal of  the European Union .  
This Regulation shall be binding in  its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. 
Done at Brussels, 
 For the Commission 
 The President