The EuPIA Charter on raw material selection and exclusion for printing inks and related products marks a new chapter in protecting the health and safety of workers in the ink and printing industries, and consequently of end users of printed materials.

The Charter remains a voluntary commitment and applies to the manufacture and supply of all types of printing inks and related products, for use in any application and on any substrate in Europe. One of its key principles is the substitution of substances that pose a severe health risk.

Although regulations such as the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP – (EC) No 1272/2008) Regulation and the Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH – (EC) No 1907/2006) have significantly enhanced chemical safety within the EU, the EuPIA Charter goes one step further in ensuring the safe use of chemicals.

For non-threshold substances – chemicals that do not have a defined safe level of exposure (threshold) below which no health risk would appear – substitution is mandatory within a default period of one year.

For threshold substances — chemicals with established safe exposure limits — continued use is allowed where substitution is not possible, and a thorough risk assessment demonstrates that there is no risk in the respective application. These clearly defined use cases, evaluated and approved by the EuPIA Technical Committee, will be reviewed biennially to reassess the situation.

“Starting off with a workshop and after intensive discussions in our Technical Committee, followed by approval by all EuPIA members, we are now entering a new and more sustainable phase for what used to be first called the Exclusion List, then the Exclusion Policy and now the EuPIA Charter. This process demonstrates EuPIA’s ongoing commitment towards worker and user safety,” said EuPIA’s Director Cornelia Tietz.

The Charter will not apply retrospectively; substances already classified as a human health hazard under the former Exclusion Policy will not be re-evaluated, as they are considered to have already been substituted.

More information on the Charter can be found here.