China Updates Mandatory Safety Standard for Leather and Fur Product
Vol. 1549 | 04 Aug 2026
China’s GB 20400-2026 updates the mandatory safety standard for leather and fur products, expanding scope to recycled leather and adding tighter limits for harmful substances such as chromium VI, SCCPs, chlorophenols, phthalates, heavy metals, and dimethyl fumarate.
The Standardization Administration of China announced that GB 20400-2026 “Safety technical specifications for leather and fur products” will come into effect on April 1, 2027. The standard is applicable to the accessible leather and fur parts in leather and fur products and related articles for daily use, as well as to the recycled leather parts in recycled leather products and their articles. This standard is not applicable to leather, fur, and recycled leather products and their articles for special industrial use.
The main changes of the new and old standards are as follows:
- Changed the standard name and the scope of application.
- Added the terms and definitions.
- Added the requirements and test methods of chromium (Cr VI), short chain chlorinated paraffins, chlorinated phenols, phthalates, heavy metal, dimethyl fumarate.
- Added the standard implementation.
Article 5 of the standard specifies the mandatory safety requirements for Leather and fur products. The specific requirements are as below.
- Product classification:
Leather and fur products for Infants (Type A) - Leather and fur products that worn or used by infants at the age of 36 months and below.
Leather and fur products with Direct Contact to Skin (Type B) - Products that contact human skin with most of its area during wearing or use.
Leather and fur products without Direct Contact to Skin (Type C) - Products that do not contact human skin or only contact with human skin with its small area during wearing or use.
- Terms and definitions:
Accessible: An articulated probe is maneuvered to the part or component of leather and fur products. If any portion forward of the collar contacts the part or component, that part or component is considered to be accessible.
Recycled leather: A sheet or board-like leather-like material made by crushing or decomposing tanned leather into small pieces, granules, powder, fibers, etc., through physical or chemical methods, and then using these as the main raw material to form the material via processes such as pressing, gluing, bonding, flocking, or needling.
Restricted chemical substances
Table 1
|
No. |
Test Item |
Requirement |
|||
|
Type A |
Type B |
Type C |
|||
|
1 |
Banned azo dyestuff /(mg/kg) ≤ |
30 |
|||
|
2 |
Formaldehyde, CAS No. 50-00-0 /(mg/kg) ≤ |
20 |
75 |
300 |
|
|
3 |
Chromium (Cr VI), CAS No. 18540-29-9 /(mg/kg) ≤ |
3.0 |
10.0 |
||
|
4 |
Short chain chlorinated paraffins (C10~C13), CAS No. 85535-84-8 /(%) ＜ |
0.15 |
|||
|
5 |
Chlorinated phenols /(mg/kg)≤ |
Pentachlorophenol |
0.5 |
||
|
Tetra chlorophenol (total) |
0.5 |
||||
|
Trichlorophenol (total) |
1.0 |
||||
|
6 |
Phthalates /(%) ＜ |
DINP+DIDP+DNOP |
0.1 |
— |
|
|
DEHP+DBP+BBP+DIBP |
0.1 |
||||
|
7 |
Heavy metal /(mg/kg) ≤ |
Lead, CAS No. 7439-92-1 |
90 |
— |
|
|
Cadmium, CAS No.7440-43-9 |
100 |
— |
|||
|
8 |
Dimethyl fumarate, CAS No. 624-49-7 /(mg/kg) ≤ |
0.1 |
|||
|
Remark 1: The result of above test items shall be calculated based on the actual mass of the test specimen. In case of dispute or arbitration testing, the test result based on the oven-dry mass of the test specimen shall be taken as final. Remark 2: No.8 test item is only required on leather and fur products that have been transported by sea. |
|||||
Standard implementation：
For products produced or imported prior to the effective date of this document, the requirements in this document must be met from Oct. 1, 2028.
Table A List of products and articles covered by this document
|
List |
Product category |
Example |
|
Products |
Leather |
Footwear leather, garment leather, furniture leather, automotive leather, etc. |
|
Fur |
Coney, mink fur, woolfell, etc. |
|
|
Double-face |
Ovine double-face, rabbit double-face, etc. |
|
|
Recycled leather |
Spun lace fiber leather, flocked fiber leather, etc. |
|
|
Articles |
Leather apparel and accessories |
Leather garments, leather garments with down feather fillers, leather hats, leather gloves, etc. |
|
Fur apparel and accessories |
Fur garments, fur-liner garments, fur scarves, fur collars, etc. |
|
|
Double-face apparel and accessories |
Double-face garments, double-face scarves, etc. |
|
|
Luggage and leather goods |
Leather cases, leather bags, leather belts, leather wallets, etc. |
|
|
Leather and fur ornaments |
Leather and fur ornaments, leather paintings, fur tapestries, etc. |
|
|
Leather ball |
Leather footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, handballs, etc. |
|
|
Recycled leather articles |
Recycled leather apparel and accessories, recycled leather luggage and leather goods, etc. |
|
|
Other leather and fur articles |
Leather mat, etc. |
Table B List of carcinogenic aromatic amines
|
Name |
CAS No. |
|
4-Animobiphenyl |
92-67-1 |
|
Benzidine |
92-87-5 |
|
4-Chloro-o-toluidine |
95-69-2 |
|
2-Naphthylamine |
91-59-8 |
|
o-Aminoazotoluene |
97-56-3 |
|
5-nitro-o-toluidine |
99-55-8 |
|
p-Chloroaniline |
106-47-8 |
|
2,4-Diaminoanisole |
615-05-4 |
|
4,4'-Diaminobiphenymethane |
101-77-9 |
|
3,3'-Dichlorobenzidine |
91-94-1 |
|
3,3'-Dimethoxybenzidine |
119-90-4 |
|
3,3'-Dimethylbenzidine |
119-93-7 |
|
3,3'-Dimethyl-4,4'-diaminobiphenymthane |
838-88-0 |
|
p-Cresidine |
120-71-8 |
|
4,4'-Methylene-bis-(2-chloroaniline) |
101-14-4 |
|
4,4'-Oxydianiline |
101-80-4 |
|
4,4'-Thiodianiline |
139-65-1 |
|
o-Toluidine |
95-53-4 |
|
2,4-Toluylendiamine |
95-80-7 |
|
2,4,5-Trimethylaniline |
137-17-7 |
|
o-Anisidine |
90-04-0 |
|
4-aminoazobenzene |
60-09-03 |
|
2,4-Xylidine |
95-68-1 |
|
2,6-Xylidine |
87-62-7 |
Table C List of restricted chlorophenols
|
English name |
CAS No. |
|
2,3,4-trichlorophenol |
15950-66-0 |
|
2,3,5-trichlorophenol |
933-78-8 |
|
2,3,6-trichlorophenol |
933-75-5 |
|
2,4,5-trichlorophenol |
95-95-4 |
|
2,4,6-trichlorophenol |
88-06-2 |
|
3,4,5-trichlorophenol |
609-19-8 |
|
2,3,4,5-tetrachlorophenol |
4901-51-3 |
|
2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol |
58-90-2 |
|
2,3,5,6-tetrachlorophenol |
935-95-5 |
|
pentachlorophenol |
87-86-5 |
Table D List of restricted phthalate plasticizers
|
English name |
CAS No. |
|
dibutyl phthalate(DBP) |
84-74-2 |
|
benzylbutyl phthalate(BBP) |
85-68-7 |
|
bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) |
117-81-7 |
|
diisononyl phthalate (DINP) |
28553-12-0 |
|
di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) |
117-84-0 |
|
diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP) |
26761-40-0 |
|
diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) |
84-69-5 |
For more information, please contact:
Shanghai
Ms. Even Jiang
Tel: +86 21 5339 5346
even.jiang@intertek.com
Guangzhou
Ms. Liu Hui Li
Tel: +86 20 2820 9274
Tianjin
Ms. Margaret Huang
Tel: +86 22 8371 5190
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