The ministry decided to postpone the application of the new regulation as many apparel enterprises have so far still failed to meet the requirement, causing their products to be withdrew from the market if the regulation takes effect this year as planned.
Many apparel firms have so far still failed to meet the new regulation
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However, many apparel enterprises have yet to learn of a new regulation effective on May 1 that they cannot market products without Conformity to Regulation (CR) stamps, which implies that such products contain amounts of formaldehyde and aromatic amines at or lower than the permissible levels.
Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, deputy general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) and head of VISTA’s representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the association at the end of last month had been flooded with questions about the new rule.
Numerous members of the association, mainly small and medium enterprises, are vague about the implementation of the national standards for formaldehyde and aromatic amines derived from AZO colorants in textile products, or QCVN 01 2017, which are provided in Circular 21/2017/TT-BCT, she said.
The association had announced the new regulation to its members for long but they had not paid much attention until the date the rule took effect, Mai said, adding that the regulation for local textile-garment products is necessary to ensure safety for consumers.
VISTA has worked with many testing companies, with charges of VND1.3-2 million imposed on textile tests, Mai noted.
According to the Circular 21/2017/TT-BCT, formaldehyde content is capped at 30 milligrams per kilogram of textile for kids under three years old, 75 milligrams for textiles for direct skin contact and 300 milligrams for textiles without direct skin contact.
The content of aromatic amines derived from AZO colorants is not above 30 milligrams per kilogram of textile.
Levels of formaldehyde and aromatic amines in textiles can be announced by manufacturers, importers and traders or by labs based on testing results. Such results should be sent to the provincial departments of industry and trade before the MoIT publishes the list of eligible products twice a year.
The new regulations do not affect the products brought into the country by immigrants, movables, tax-exempt goods of diplomats and diplomatic organizations, samples, goods for research, products temporarily imported for re-export, goods in transit, goods stored in bonded warehouses, gifts eligible for tax exemption, goods for exchange by border residents, and fabrics, unbleached and undyed garments and textiles.
At the time of the circular’s issue, Nguyen Minh Thao, head of the Business Environment and Competitiveness Department at the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), said that for the first time, Vietnam has issued national standards for limits of formaldehyde and aromatic amines in textiles.
Vietnam’s export turnover of textile and garment products soared by 13.4 percent year-on-year to US$7.62 billion in the first quarter, equal to 22.4 percent of the annual target, the VITAS reported.
Vice President and General Secretary of VITAS Truong Van Cam said that many garment and textile enterprises have received orders until the end of the third quarter, which, in combination with favorable prospects for the world and domestic economy in 2018, makes the export target of $34-34.5 billion for 2018 an achievable goal.
