EU has issued the REACH guidelines for the measurement of formaldehyde releases

On May 14, 2025, The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has issued guidelines for the measurement of formaldehyde releases from articles and formaldehyde concentrations in the interior of vehicles on its official website. The purpose of these explanatory guidelines is to describe the test methods and test conditions to be applied to measure formaldehyde emissions from articles and concentration of formaldehyde in line with the requirements defined in Regulation (EU) 2023/1464 amending Annex XVII to REACH Regulation ((EC) No 1907/2006) as regards formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers (entry 77 of REACH, Annex XVII). The guidelines also provide information on suitable methods to be used to establish a scientific data correlation between test results obtained under the reference conditions laid down in Appendix 14 to the REACH Regulation and non-reference conditions and examples on how the scientific correlation should be applied to practical cases.

1.Previous Review

On July 17, 2023, The European Commission published Regulation (EU) 2023/1464 in its Official Journal, amending Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 by adding the restrictions on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing substances in entry 77. The main contents are as follows:

2.The test methods pointed out in the guidelines that can be directly used to assess compliance with the requirements of entry 77 of REACH, Annex XVII.

3.Examples of article-specific test conditions that can be applied to assess compliance with entry 77 of REACH, Annex XVII.