On January 17, 2023, the European Chemical Administration (ECHA) included nine SVHC reviewed substances in the candidate list of substances of high concern (SVHC). So far, the SVHC candidate list has been officially updated to 233 items. Resorcinol (CAS No. 108-46-3), which was previously proposed to be included in the SVHC list in June 2021, is still in a pending state and has not been added to the SVHC candidate substances list this time.

On December 29, 2022, the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration of the People\'s Republic of China issued an announcement on the national supervision and random inspection plan for product quality in 2023. The national supervision and spot check plan for product quality in 2023 includes 142 products in total, including 38 kinds of electronic appliances, 9 kinds of agricultural means of production, 16 kinds of construction and decoration materials, 11 kinds of electrical and material products, 23 kinds of machinery and security products, 17 kinds of daily use and textiles, 15 kinds of durable consumer goods, and 13 kinds of food-related products.

On December 7, 2022, the European Union Official Journal OJ officially issued the revised Directive (EU) 2022/2380 on universal chargers to supplement the specific implementation requirements of 3.3 (a) of the RED Directive 2014/53/EU on universal charging interfaces.

In December 2022, BIO Innovation Service, the European Union\'s RoHS directive consulting agency, published the final evaluation report of the EU RoHS directive consulting project Pack 23 on its official website. The report evaluated and recommended the extension of 12 exemption clauses in Annex III of the RoHS directive, including 4 (f), 8 (b), 8 (b) (I), 9, 9 (a) (II), 13 (a), 13 (b), 13 (b) (I), 13 (b) (II), 13 (b) (III), 15, 15 (a). In the future, according to the recommendations of this evaluation report, the EU will issue the final exemption clause update directive in the official gazette (EUOJ). Enterprises can refer to the contents of this evaluation report to make product adjustments and respond to regulatory changes in advance.

On September 20, 2022, California signed the AB 2208 Act, which will phase out and prohibit the sale of mercury-containing fluorescent lamps in California. From January 1, 2024, spiral or bayonet compact fluorescent lamps shall not be sold in California as newly manufactured products; From January 1, 2025, pin type compact fluorescent lamps and linear fluorescent lamps shall not be sold in California as newly manufactured products.

[Attention] The Bureau of Standards of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (DTI-BPS) has listed several international standards for primary batteries as Philippine national standards!

On December 9, 2022, the European Parliament and the Council reached an interim political agreement to comprehensively revise the EU battery rules. This regulation aims to make all batteries put on the EU market more sustainable, recyclable and safe. The agreement is based on the proposal of the European Commission in December 2020 and aims to solve the social, economic and environmental problems related to all types of batteries.

On June 26, 2020, the European Union issued (EU) Regulation 2020/878 in its official gazette, revising the requirements of Annex II of REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/200 on the preparation of safety data sheets (SDS). This revised regulation will come into force on January 1, 2021 and will be directly applicable to EU member states. Considering that the update of SDS may impose burden on enterprises, the revised regulations provide enterprises with a 2-year transition period, that is, before December 31, 2022, enterprises can still provide SDS in accordance with the requirements of the revised regulations (EU) 2015/830 issued in 2015 in Annex II of REACH regulations. However, from January 1, 2023, enterprises must provide new versions of SDS in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2020/878.