The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) is the national trade association representing apparel, footwear, and other sewn products manufacturers. One of the key roles of the AAFA is to provide unified information on key legislative and regulatory issues. That is why the Environmental Committee of the AAFA developed the Restricted Substance List (RSL) with all the information on restricted or banned chemicals in finished apparel, footwear, and home textile products from different laws and regulations.

The Committee issued the updated RSL in May 2021. The 22nd edition of the RSL reflects new amendments and changes occurred in the legislation of the USA as well as in the international regulations with regard to restricted chemicals. The RSL itself is a reference document that helps companies to receive updated information on the amount of substances that are permitted in finished textile, apparel, and footwear products and use this information within the manufacturing process to get access to the market easily.  

For each substance in the RSL there is information on:

- CAS number
- common chemical or color name
- restriction/limit on final product or tested component with regard to restriction level and country
- test method
- other countries that have corresponding restrictions

So, the 22nd Edition contains information on 12 categories with more than 250 chemicals. And the major changes concern the following:

• on azo dyes for leather and textile ISO standard were updated
• certain flame retardants under Massachusetts House Bill 4900 and Maryland restrictions were added
• test methods for some organotin compounds were changed
• the information in Appendix I was changed

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The RSL itself you can find on the AAFA website.

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The information has been prepared by the GMA Consult Group team.‍

GMA Consult Group provides a full cycle of international type approval and global market access services for IT, Telecom, and industrial electrical products in all countries throughout the world. With proven expertise in worldwide regulations, compliance, certification, and conformity assessment, GMA Consult Group can help your company speed up the access to any market with almost zero efforts from your side.

Need your own guide to the world of certification and approvals? Don't hesitate to contact us via info@gma.trade.