On Jun 6 2012, the AQSIQ and SAC jointly released China’s first compulsory standard limiting the content of harmful chemical elements, such as arsenic, mercury and nickel in adornments. The release of the GB 28480-2012 Adornment-Provision for the limit of baneful elements marks the standardization on the safety requirements for adornments and will also facilitate supervision by the local authorities and the market.
This new compulsory standard applies to adornments (excluding gems) made of various kinds of materials, with children jewelry included in the scope. It should be noted that the total content of As, Hg, Cr6+ and Pb in jewelry and ornaments made of non-precious metals circulating in the domestic market can enjoy one-year grace period starting from the date of implementation May 1 2013.
1. The release of nickel should be:
< 0.2 μg/(cm2·week) in products which would be inserted into pierced ears and other pierced parts of the human body
< 0.5 μg/(cm2·week) in products intended to be in direct and prolonged contact with skin, such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, watch chain, metal tags, etc.
2. The maximum contents of other hazardous metals are listed below
Hazardous metals (mg/kg) | Children adornments | Adult adornments |
Pb | 300 | 1000 |
Cd | 100 | |
As, Cr6+, Hg | 1000 | |
3. As for adornments or accessories that are easily swallowed by children, the maximum contents of soluble elements are listed below:
Hazardous metals | Sb | As | Ba | Cd | Cr | Pb | Hg | Se |
Maximum content (mg/kg) | 60 | 25 | 1000 | 75 | 60 | 90 | 60 | 500 |
Jewelry and ornaments made for children use must be clearly indicated on the labels.
The Standard also presents testing methods for the harmful metals mentioned above:
Nickel: GB/T 19719-2005 Jewelry--Determination of the release of nickel--Method of spectrometry and GB/T 28485-2012 Coated adornment—Detection of nickel release—Method for simulation of wear and corrosion
Cr6+: GB/T 28019-2011 Adornment—Determination of Chromium (VI) —1,5-Diphenylcarbohydrazide spectrophotometric method
Harmful elements (for preliminary testing): GB/T 28020-2011 Adornment—Determination of harmful elements—X-ray fluorescence spectrometric method
The total content of As, Hg, Pb and Cr and the content of soluble elements : GB/T 28021-2011 Adornment—Determination of baneful elements—Method of spectrometry
