Scope
This regulation amends REACH Annex XVII entry 23 for cadmium in mixtures and articles made from specified synthetic organic polymers, paints and painted articles, recovered PVC in listed rigid applications, brazing fillers, and metal jewellery components. It is an EU market restriction and includes specific derogations for safety uses, older articles, defense and aerospace brazing fillers, and jewellery more than 50 years old on 10 January 2012.
Exact limit and units
| Metal | Matrix | Limit | Unit | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadmium | Mixtures and articles produced from listed plastic materials | 0.01 | % by weight | plastic material, expressed as Cd metal |
| Cadmium | Paints with zinc content exceeding 10% by weight of the paint | 0.1 | % by weight | paint, expressed as Cd metal |
| Cadmium | Painted articles | 0.1 | % by weight | paint on the painted article, expressed as Cd metal |
| Cadmium | Recovered PVC mixtures and articles in listed rigid PVC applications | 0.1 | % by weight | plastic material, expressed as Cd metal |
| Cadmium | Brazing fillers | 0.01 | % by weight | brazing filler |
| Cadmium | Metal beads, metal jewellery components, metal parts of jewellery and imitation jewellery, and hair accessories | 0.01 | % by weight | metal |
How tested
The amendment states cadmium concentration thresholds and the basis of expression as Cd metal. It does not print a dedicated analytical method in the amended paragraphs.
Enforcement posture
Covered mixtures and articles may not be used or placed on the EU market at concentrations equal to or greater than the stated thresholds, subject to the listed derogations.
History of changes
The regulation was adopted on 20 May 2011, entered into force on the twentieth day after publication, and applied from 10 January 2012. The recovered-PVC derogation was identified for later review by 31 December 2017.
How it compares
The cadmium thresholds here are material-specific market restrictions. They are not food contaminant maximum levels and they should not be pooled with migration-based food-contact limits.
Sources
Update history
The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.
| Commit | Date | Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| a8052bb | 2026-08-09 | major | 1 source added; contamination-profile values revised; 7 sections added |