june 29, 2012, general administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine of the people's republic of china jointed national standardization management committee has issued a mandatory standard gb 28480-2012, which limits harmful substances in jewelry. the standard will be implemented on may 1, 2013 formally.
the standard restricts heavy metal contents in the various types of non-precious metal jewelry and ornaments, including nickel, lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, hexavalent chromium, etc. the items and the threshold level are different between adults' and children's jewelry. the details are showed in the table below:
children's jewelry | adults’ jewelry |
items | threshold level | items | threshold level |
nickel release | body-piercing: 0.2 μg/cm2/week direct contacted: 0.5μg/cm2/week | nickel release | body-piercing: 0.2 μg/cm2/week direct contacted: 0.5 μg/cm2/week |
pb | 300 mg/kg | pb | 1000 mg/kg |
cd | 100 mg/kg | cd | 100 mg/kg |
as/hg/cr (vi) | 1000 mg/kg | as/hg/cr (vi) | 1000 mg/kg |
soluble heavy metals | pb: 90 mg/kg cd: 75mg/kg hg: 60mg/kg cr: 60mg/kg as: 25mg/kg se: 500mg/kg sb: 60mg/kg ba: 1000mg/kg | - | - |
