China has recently revised its national general safety technical code for textile products and will become effective on 1st August 2011.

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

The main technical differences between this new revision and the old one 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.
5. Appendix D “Sampling guideline“ has been added for reference
6. A note has been added stating that hanging products, such as curtains, will be exempt from the testing requirement of colour fastness to perspiration.
7. Some examples of textile product categorizations have been adjusted in Appendix B, and Appendix A has been amended to add more textile products examples.