A new Reach restriction came into force January 4th, 2022. Thousands of hazardous chemicals potentially used in tattoo inks became restricted in the EU under the Reach regulation (specifically, Reach Annex XVII entry 75).
This project “Joint Control of Tattoo Inks,” has been a collaborative enforcement effort by market surveillance authorities within the Nordic Enforcement Group, including Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.
The primary objectives of this project have been to ensure compliance of tattoo inks with the new Reach restriction, raise awareness about the regulation, identify non-compliant products in the Nordic market, follow up deviances with enforcement actions. The results of this project will also be used to inform consumers about their rights and the lack of implementation of the new requirements in this segment.
Results
Inspection methods varied across the participating countries. A total of 211 tattoo inks from 64 different enterprises were controlled.
Over half of the inks controlled in the project originated from the US, about a quarter from the EU, and the rest from China, the UK, and other non-EU countries. A few inks had unknown origin.
Out of the 211 controlled inks, 46 inks (22%) contained one or more restricted substances. Among the detected substances both carcinogenic and skin corrosive/irritating substances were found. There were also detected substances restricted by the cosmetics regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009) and substances listed in Annex XVII to Reach (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006). Sweden and Finland performed chemical analysis of the inks, and the results showed that approximately one third of the analysed inks (34%) contained one or more substance above the permitted concentration limits. The highest percentage of inks with restricted substances originated from outside of the EU.
Regarding labelling, over half of the controlled inks were marked with reference numbers, a list of ingredients, and safety instructions. About only a quarter had the obligatory statement “Mixture for use in tattoos or permanent make-up” correctly labelled. In total, only 17 out of 211 controlled inks (8%) were correctly labelled. None of the inks from China and the UK had the correct labelling.
Overall, only 14 inks (7%) were found to be compliant for the items that were controlled in this project. The results indicate that there will be a need to further monitor the industry going forward.