Approved by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People´s Republic of China(AQSIQ), Standardization Administration of The People’s Republic of China, the new revision of GB 18401-2010 ”National general safety technical code for textile products“ will become effective on 1st August 2011.

Summary of Main Technical Changes
This standard is applicable to the manufacture and sale of garments, decorations and household textile products. It defines the general safety requirements for textile products, test methods, testing and implementation and supervision principles.

The main technical differences between this new revision and GB 18401-2003 are listed below:
1. The scope of standard was adjusted to delete “Use”, and to retain “manufacture” and “sale” of textile products in China. Household textile products also were added to scope of the standard.
2. The definition of infant age has been changed from 24 months to 36 months, and the height specification for products normally suitable for infants has been changed from 80cm to 100cm.
3. The pH requirement of textile products with direct contact to skin (category B) has been changed from 4.0-7.5 to 4.0-8.5.
4. ‘4-Aminoazobenzene’ has been added to the list of cleavable carcinogenic aryl amines in appendix C of the standard. There are 24 forbidden carcinogenic aryl amines on the list.

Source: China Textile Leader