Commission Directive 2007/4/EC of 2 February 2007 amending, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical progress, Annex II to Directive 96/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain methods for quantitative analysis of binary textile fibre mixtures (Text with EEA relevance )
Date: 2007-02-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: analytical chemistry, man-made fibre, natural fibre, plastics, textile fibre, textile product

L 28/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

3.2.2007

COMMISSION DIRECTIVE 2007/4/EC

of 2 February 2007

amending, for the purposes of its adaptation to technical progress, Annex II to Directive 96/73/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council on certain methods for quantitative analysis of
binary textile fibre mixtures

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Having regard to the Treaty
Community,

establishing the European

regard to Directive 96/73/EC of

the European
Having
Parliament and of
the Council of 16 December 1996 on
certain methods for quantitative analysis of binary textile fibre
mixtures (1), and in particular Article 5(2) thereof,

Whereas:

Directive 96/74/EC of the European Parliament and the
Council of 16 December 1996 on textile names (2)
requires labelling to indicate the fibre composition of
textile products, with checks being carried out by
analysis on the conformity of these products with indi-
cations given on the label.

Article 1

Annex II to Directive 96/73/EC is amended in accordance with
the Annex to this Directive.

Article 2

1. Member States shall bring into force the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this
Directive by 2 February 2008 at
the latest. They shall
forthwith communicate to the Commission the text of those
provisions and a correlation table between those provisions and
this Directive.

When Member States adopt those provisions, they shall contain
a reference to this Directive or be accompanied by such a
reference on the occasion of their official publication. Member
States shall determine how such reference is to be made.

Uniform methods for quantitative analysis of binary
textile fibre mixtures are provided for
in Directive
96/73/EC.

2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission the
text of the main provisions of national law which they adopt in
the field covered by this Directive.

On the basis of recent findings by the technical working
group, Directive 96/74/EC was adapted to technical
progress, by adding the fibre elastolefin to the list of
fibres set out in Annexes I and II to that Directive.

Article 3

This Directive shall enter into force on the 20th day following
its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 4

It is therefore, necessary to define uniform test methods
for elastolefin.

This Directive is addressed to the Members States.

Directive 96/73/EC should
accordingly.

therefore be

amended

Done at Brussels, 2 February 2007.

The measures provided for
accordance with the opinion of
Directives relating to Textile Names and Labelling,

in this Directive are in
the Committee for

For the Commission

Günter VERHEUGEN
Vice-President

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(1) OJ L 32, 3.2.1997, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Commission

Directive 2006/2/EC (OJ L 5, 10.1.2006, p. 10).

(2) OJ L 32, 3.2.1997, p. 38. Directive as last amended by Commission

Directive 2006/3/EC (OJ L 5, 10.1.2006, p. 14).

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Official Journal of the European Union

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ANNEX

Annex II to Directive 96/73/EC is amended as follows:

1. Chapter 1, Section I is amended as follows:

(a)

In point I.3 ‘materials and equipment’ the following entries are inserted:

‘I.3.2.4 Acetone

I.3.2.5 Orthophosphoric acid

I.3.2.6 Urea

I.3.2.7 Sodium bicarbonate’.

(b) Point I.6 ‘Pre-treatment of laboratory test sample’ is replaced by the following:

‘Where a substance not to be taken into account in the percentage calculations (see Article 12(3) of Directive
96/74/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 on textile names) is present, it
should first be removed by a suitable method that does not affect any of the fibre constituents.

For this purpose, non-fibrous matter which can be extracted with light petroleum and water is removed by treating
the air-dry test sample in a Soxhlet extractor with light petroleum for one hour at a minimum rate of six cycles
per hour. Allow the light petroleum to evaporate from the sample, which is then extracted by direct treatment
consisting in soaking the specimen in water at room temperature for one hour and then soaking it in water at
65 ± 5 °C for a further hour, agitating the liquor from time to time. Use a liquor:specimen ratio of 100:1. Remove
the excess water from the sample by squeezing, suction or centrifuging and then allow the sample to become air-
dry.

In the case of elastolefin or fibre mixtures containing elastolefin and other fibres (wool, animal hair, silk, cotton,
flax, true hemp, jute, abaca, alfa, coir, broom, ramie, sisal, cupro, modal, protein, viscose, acrylic, polyamide or
nylon, polyester, elastomultiester) the procedure just described should be slightly modified, in fact light petroleum
ether should be replaced by acetone.

In the case of binary mixtures containing elastolefin and acetate the following procedure shall apply as pre-
treatment. Extract the specimen for 10 minutes at 80 °C with a solution containing 25 g/l of 50 % ortho-
phosphoric acid and 50 g/l of urea. Use a liquor:specimen ratio of 100:1. Wash the specimen in water, then
drain and wash it in a 0,1 % sodium bicarbonate solution, finally wash it carefully in water.

Where non-fibrous matter cannot be extracted with light petroleum and water, it should be removed by substi-
tuting for the water method described above a suitable method that does not substantially alter any of the fibre
constituents. However, for some unbleached, natural vegetable fibres (e.g. jute, coir) it is to be noted that normal
pre-treatment with light petroleum and water does not remove all the natural non-fibrous substances; nevertheless
additional pre-treatment is not applied unless the sample does contain finishes insoluble in both light petroleum
and water.

Analysis reports shall include full details of the methods of pre-treatment used.’

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Official Journal of the European Union

3.2.2007

2. Chapter 2 is amended as follows:

(a) The Special Methods – Summary Table is replaced by the following:

‘2. SPECIAL METHODS — SUMMARY TABLE

Methods

Reagent

Soluble component

Insoluble component

Field of application

No 1

No 2

No 3

No 4

No 5

No 6

No 7

No 8

Acetate

Certain other fibres

Acetone

Certain protein fibres

Certain other fibres

Hypochlorite

Viscose, cupro or certain types
of modal

Cotton or elastolefin

Formic acid and zinc chloride

Polyamide or nylon

Certain other fibres

Formic acid, 80 % m/m

Acetate

Triacetate or elastolefin

Benzyl alcohol

Triacetate or polylactide

Certain other fibres

Dichloromethane

Certain cellulose fibres

Polyester, elastomultiester or
elastolefin

Sulphuric acid, 75 % m/m

Acrylics, certain modacrylics or
certain chlorofibres

Certain other fibres

Dimethylformamide

No 9

Certain chlorofibres

Certain other fibres

No 10

Acetate

No 11

No 12

Silk

Jute

Carbon disulphide/acetone,
55,5/44,5 v/v

Glacial acetic acid

Certain chlorofibres or
elastolefin

Wool, hair or elastolefin

Sulphuric acid, 75 % m/m

Certain animal fibres

Nitrogen content method

No 13

Polypropylene

Certain other fibres

Xylene

No 14

Certain other fibres

No 15

Chlorofibres, certain
modacrylics, certain elastanes,
acetates, triacetates

Chlorofibres (homopolymers of
vinyl chloride) or elastolefin

Concentrated sulphuric acid
method

Certain other fibres

Cyclohexanone’

(b) Point 1.2 of method No 1 is replaced by the following:

‘2. wool (1), animal hair (2 and 3), silk (4), cotton (5), flax (7) true hemp (8), jute (9), abaca (10), alfa (11), coir
(12), broom (13), ramie (14), sisal (15), cupro (21), modal (22), protein (23), viscose (25), acrylic (26),
polyamide or nylon (30), polyester (34) elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).

In no circumstances is the method applicable to acetate fibres which have been deacetylated on the surface.’

(c) Point 1.2 of method No 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. cotton (5), cupro (21), viscose (25), acrylic (26), chlorofibres (27), polyamide or nylon (30), polyester (34),

polypropylene (36), elastane (42), glass fibre (43) elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).

If different protein fibres are present, the method gives the total of their amounts but not their individual
quantities.’

(d) Point 1.2 of method No 3 is replaced by the following:

‘2. cotton (5) and elastolefin (46).’

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(e) Point 5 of method No 3 is replaced by the following:

‘5. CALCULATION AND EXPRESSION OF RESULTS

Calculate the results as described in the general instructions. The value of “d” is 1,02 for cotton and 1,00 for
elastolefin.’

(f)

Point 1.2 of method No 4 is replaced by the following:

‘2. wool (1), animal hair (2 and 3), cotton (5), cupro (21), modal (22), viscose (25), acrylic (26), chlorofibre (27),

polyester (34), polypropylene (36), glass fibre (43), elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).

As mentioned above, this method is also applicable to mixtures with wool, but when the wool content
exceeds 25 %, method No 2 should be applied (dissolving wool
in a solution of alkaline sodium hypo-
chlorite).’

(g) Point 1 of method No 5 is replaced by the following:

‘1. FIELD OF APPLICATION

This method is applicable, after removal of non-fibrous matter, to binary mixtures of:

— acetate (19)

with

— triacetate (24) and elastolefin (46).’

(h) Method No 6 is amended as follows:

(i) Point 1.2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. wool (1), animal hair (2 and 3), silk (4), cotton (5), cupro (21), modal (22), viscose (25), acrylic (26),
polyamide or nylon (30), polyester (34), glass fibre (43) elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).

Note

Triacetate fibres which have received a finish leading to partial hydrolysis cease to be completely soluble in
the reagent. In such cases, the method is not applicable’.

(ii) Point 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5. CALCULATION AND EXPRESSION OF RESULTS

Calculate the results as described in the general instructions. The value of “d” is 1,00, except in the case of
polyester, elastomultiester and elastolefin, for which the value of “d” is 1,01.’

(i)

Point 1.2 of method No 7 is replaced by the following:

‘2. polyester (34), elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).’

(j)

Point 1.2 of method No 8 is replaced by the following:

‘2. wool (1), animal hair (2 and 3), silk (4), cotton (5), cupro (21), modal (22), viscose (25), polyamide or nylon

(30), polyester (34), elastomultiester (45) and elastolefin (46).

It is equally applicable to acrylics, and certain modacrylics, treated with pre-metallised dyes, but not to those
dyed with afterchrome dyes.’

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3.2.2007

(k) Point 1.2 of method No 10 is replaced by the following:

‘2. certain chlorofibres
elastolefin (46).’

(27) namely polyvinyl

chloride

fibres, whether

after-chlorinated or not,

and

(l) Method No 11 is amended as follows:

(i) Point 1.2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. wool (1), animal hair (2 and 3) and elastolefin (46)’.

(ii) Point 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5. CALCULATION AND EXPRESSION OF RESULTS

Calculate the results as described in the general instructions. The value of “d” is 0,985 for wool and 1,00
for elastolefin.’

(m) Method No 14 is amended as follows:

(i) Point 1.1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. chlorofibres

(27) based on homopolymers of vinyl chloride, whether after-chlorinated or not,

elastolefin (46)

with’

(ii) Point 2 is replaced by the following:

‘2. PRINCIPLE

The constituent other than the chlorofibre or the elastolefin (i.e. the fibres mentioned in paragraph 1.2) is
dissolved out from a known dry mass of the mixture with concentrated sulphuric acid (relative density
1,84 at 20 °C). The residue, consisting of the chlorofibre or the elastolefin, is collected, washed, dried and
weighed; its mass, corrected if necessary, is expressed as a percentage of the dry mass of the mixture. The
percentage of the second constituents is obtained by difference.’