Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are series of hydrocarbons contained two or more cyclic aromatics in molecular structure, such as Naphthalene, Anthracene, and Phenanthrene, which have about 150 compounds, and may lead to cancer. Benzo[a]pyrene is first founded PAH which can lead to cancer and usually represent all PAHs.
PAHs are widely contained in petroleum, plastics, rubber, lubricants, crud oil, drugs, dyes, pesticides, capacitor electrolytes, and organic chemicals when not absolutely combustion. PAHs usually can be found in footwear or related materials along with the use of additives or auxiliary chemicals in production.
PAH’s, which are known for their carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic properties, can be found in leather, rubber, plastics, lubricants, paints and other products. As a result of this, EU REACH Annex XVII has placed a restriction on the use of 8 PAH’s in certain products and concentration limits have been applied. Furthermore, the US EPA has restricted the use of a total of 18 PAH’s in consumer goods.
Major Changes in the Germany PAHs Requirements
In August 2014, German committee on technical equipment and consumer products ATAV published requirement on control of PAHs in products which are subject to the GS certification, and the rule is to become effective on and from July 1, 2015.
The products falling into the scope are mainly:
Electrical and electronic products, toys, food packaging materials, plastic products, rubber products and machinery etc. which need to get GS certification.
Compared with the old one, the new standard is changed a lot and stricter. The changes mainly are:
The products of Category 2 and Category 3 are divided into two parts respectively according to Toy Directive 2009/48/EC, and all the parts are defined new limit values;
The old standard only defined limit value of sum of 18 PAHs and limit value of Benzo(a)pyrene. The new standard add new limit values of 10 PAH such as Benzo(e)pyrene, Benzo(a)anthracene, Benzo(b)fluoranthene, Naphthalene, etc. The new standard defines the limit value of sum of 7 PAHs (Acenaphthylene, Acenaphthene, fluorene, Phenanthrene, Pyrene, Anthracene, Fluoranthene);
The new standard defines lower limit values of Benzo(a)pyrene in Category 2 and Category 3;
The new standard defines lower limit values of sum of 18 PAHs.
Implementation Schedule
The GS certificates issued on and after July 1st, 2015 must comply with the new requirement;
The GS certificates issued before July 1st, 2015 (including sub-certificates, and not to the new PAH requirement) will be valid until the next factory inspection, but no later than Jun 30th, 2016;
New certificates will be issued for the current GS certificates from July 1st, 2015;
1.For non-technical renewal (such as change of company name, address or certificate holder), the validity of the certificate is before the next factory inspection and no later than June 30th, 2016;
2.For newly issued sub-certificates and their corresponding master certificates, the validity of the certificates are before the next factory inspection and no later than Dec 28th, 2015.
Table: Limits for PAHs in the new standard (mg/kg)

Parameter	Category 1	Category 2		Category 3
	Materials intended to be put in the mouth, or materials of toy with intended  to long-term skin contact(longer than 30 seconds)	Materials not covered by Category 1, with foreseeable skin contact for longer than 30 seconds (long-term skin contact) or repeated short-term skin contact		Materials not covered by category 1 or 2 with foreseeable skin contact up to 30 second(short term skin contact)
		Toys in the scope of 2009/48/EC	Other products in the scope	Toys in the scope of 2009/84/EC	Other products in the scope
BENZO(a)PYRENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(e)PYRENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(a)ANTHRACENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(b)FLUORANTHENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(j)FLUORANTHENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(k)FLUORANTHENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
CHRYSENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
DIBENZO(a,h)ANTHRACENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
BENZO(g,h,i)PERYLENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
INDENO(l,2,3-cd)PYRENE	< 0.2	< 0.2	< 0.5	< 0.5	< 1
ACENAPHTHYLENE, ACENAPHTHENE, FLUORENE, PHENANTHRENE, PYRENE, ANTHRACENE,  FLUORANTHENE	<1 Sum	< 5 Sum	< 10 Sum	< 20 Sum	< 50 Sum
NAPHTHALENE	< 1	< 2		< 10
Sum of 18 PAH	< 1	< 5	< 10	< 20	< 50

Impacts to the manufacturers and exporters
There is less than one year before the new requirement coming into effect. PTS Testing Service suggests the manufacturers and traders to be proactive and make proper preparation. Besides testing the related finished products, it is necessary to conduct inspection on the whole production line and the supplier.
Limits for PAHs in the EU standard (mg/kg)

SN	Name	Abbr.	CAS No	REACH Regulation
1	Benzo[a]pyrene	BaP	50-32-8	<1mg/kg
2	Benzo[e]pyrene	BeP	192-97-2	Sum of 8 PAHs ≤10mg/kg
3	Benzo[a]anthracene	BaA	56-55-3
4	Chrysene	CHR	218-01-9
5	Benzo[b]fluoranthene	BbFA	205-99-2
6	Benzo[k]fluoranthene	BkFA	207-08-9
7	Benzo[j]fluoranthene	BjFA	205-82-3
8	Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene	DBAhA	53-70-3

Extender oil offered for sale on the market or used for tyre production as set forth in 2005/69/EC and REACH Annex XVII shall comply with the following requirements:
The polycyclic aromatics (PCA) extract is less than 3 % by weight as measured by the Institute of Petroleum standard IP 346:1998.
■The new test method EN 16143:2013 will supersede the existing method IP 346 until 23 September 2016.
Tyres and tyre parts regulatory compliance:
■The vulcanised rubber compounds do not exceed the limit of 0,35 % Bay protons as measured and calculated by ISO 21461.
Scope: automobiles, tyre and rubber industries. Materials of high concern include carbon black, film, reclaimed rubber and rubber oil.
Notice:The requirements for tyres, rubber extender oil and reclaimed tyres set forth in REACH Regulation 
Limits for PAHs in the OEKO-TEX®standard 100standard (mg/kg)
OEKO-TEX®standard 100 primarily specifies for limits of 24 PAHs in textiles and leather articles:

SN	Test Item	Abbr.	CAS NO	I-Baby products (under 36 months of age, excluding leather articles)	Ⅱ-In direct contact with skin	Ⅲ- With no direct contact with skin	Ⅳ-Decoration material
1	Benzo[a]pyrene	BaP	50-32-8	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
2	Benzo[e]pyrene	BeP	192-97-2	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
3	Benzo[a]anthracene	BaA	56-55-3	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
4	Chrysene	CHR	218-01-9	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
5	Benzo[b]fluoranthene	BbFA	205-99-2	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
6	Benzo[j]fluoranthene	BjFA	205-82-3	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
7	Benzo[k]fluoranthene	BkFA	207-08-9	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
8	Dibenzo[a,h]anthracene	DBAhA	53-70-3	0.5	1.0	1.0	1.0
9	Naphthalene	Nap	91-20-3
10	Indeno[l,2,3-cd]pyrene	IND	193-39-5
11	Acenaphthylene	AcPy	208-96-8
12	Acenaphthene	Acp	83-32-9
13	Fluorene	Flu	86-73-7
14	Phenanthrene	PA	85-1-8
15	Pyrene	Pyr	129-00-0
16	Anthracene	Ant	120-12-7
17	Fluoranthene	FL	206-44-0
18	Benzo[g,h,i]perylene	BghiP	191-24-2
19	Cyclopenta[c,d]pyrene		27208-37-3
20	Dibenzo[a,e]pyrene		192-65-4
21	Dibenzo[a,h]pyrene		189-64-0
22	Dibenzo[a,i]pyrene		189-55-9
23	Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene		191-30-0
24	1-Methylpyrene		2381-21-7
	Sum			5.0	10.0	10.0	10.0

PAH Testing Services (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons)
What are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH’s) are a group of over 100 different chemicals that are formed during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, waste and other organic substances. These substances readily evaporate into the air from soil or surface water, breaking down through reaction with sunlight and other chemicals in the air. Furthermore, PAH’s can enter water through discharges from industrial and water treatment plants, however, most PAH’s do not dissolve easily in water and therefore they bind to solid particles and settle at the bottom of lakes or rivers.
The risks and why you need to test

PAH’s, which are known for their carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic properties, can be found in leather, rubber, plastics, lubricants, paints and other products. As a result of this, EU REACH Annex XVII has placed a restriction on the use of 8 PAH’s in certain products and concentration limits have been applied. Furthermore, the US EPA has restricted the use of a total of 18 PAH’s in consumer goods.