A : → We are aware there are certain EU directives introduced earlier this year restricting the use of arsenic in the treatment of wood. Can we have the details?
A : → Hong Kong and Chinese mainland traders of wood products should be alerted to Commission Directive 2003/2/EC, introduced this year at EU level, and set to enter into effect in the Member States by 30 June 2004 at the latest. The new law, relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of arsenic,the use of which has already been restricted EU-wide in certain industrial sectors for a number of years. However, in the preservation of wood, the ban has not hitherto applied to solutions of inorganic salts of the copper-chromium-arsenic (CCA) type employed in industrial installations using vacuum or pressure to impregnate wood. In addition, Member States have been permitted to authorize on their territory the use of preparations of the dinitro-phenol-fluoride-arsenic (DFA) type for the re-treatment of wooden poles already in place and supporting overhead cables. For details please read:http://www.tdctrade.com/alert/eu0311.htm
A : → Hello Mike, do you run your own factory in China, and what's your targeted market?
Q : → I have just started up a business to export restaurant chairs manufactured in China to UK. Where can I find the standards regulatingfurniture importing into UK including fire retardant and insect removing treatment etc?
A : → There are no special requirements for furniture. But to combat the spread of the Asian longhorn beetle, the EU introduced in July 1999 emergency controls on wooden packaging material originating in the Chinese mainland. Wood covered by the measures must be stripped of its bark and free of insect bore holes greater than 3mm across, or have been kiln-dried to below 20% moisture content.Please contact the Products Standards Information Bureau for details of these standards: http://www.info.gov.hk/itc/eng/quality/psis/psis.shtml
