Supplying Inks Used on Promotional Pens and Printed Pens Can Be Problematic

Ink, as everyone knows has been around forControl of Substances Hazardous to Health, which
thousands of years and early versions of blackrequires risk assessments to be carried out and a
ink were made from not much more than sootsixteen point Material Safety Data Sheet to be
and water. With the advent of new printingsent out with each consignment.
technologies, the ink systems have become moreIn addition, certain National Agencies require
and more complex. Inks used in the refills ofspecific standards to be met before products can
Printed Pens, commonly referred to asbe sold. e.g for the Food Industry in the USA, all
promotional pens, or promotional giveawaysprinted matter coming into contact with
typically contain six or more different ingredientsfoodstuffs requires FDA approval. Then add to
and a similar number are used to produce thethis in Europe for printing inks used on toys, EN71
printed logos. In a legal sense, humble printing inkssection 9 specifies the levels of heavy metals
are now regarded more like a lethal cocktail ofthat cannot be exceeded to supply to toy
toxic chemicals than simple printing inks. So muchmanufacturers.
so, that inks used in writing instruments have toJust in case you think, how much more of this
comply with a raft of legislation and some verycan there be? this article barely touches the
complicated international standards.surface. I have ignored Quality Standards such as
Firstly, there are requirements to register theISO9001 and Environmental Protection Standard
chemicals being used. Registers of chemicals were!SO14001, although of course the Environmental
set up in Europe and the U.S.A and particularly forAgency, along with the National Rivers Authority,
exporters, there is a requirement to be registeredand the Health and Safety Executive will be
with all the relevant bodies. For instance in Europe,keeping a watchful eye out for any
for well-established products there is atransgressions. Finally, before manufacturers can
requirement to be registered under EINECS.send anything out the packaging and labels must
(European Inventory of Existing Chemicalcomply with CHIPS requirements (Chemical
Substances). However, under the EuropeanHazard Information and Packaging for Supply)
Chemical Agency there is also a requirement toSo, as you can imagine, to supply something as
Register under the REACH Regulationssimple as the ink that goes into your Promotional
(Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation andPens, or indeed an ink used to put a logo onto a
Restriction of Chemicals.). In North America thePrinted Pen, the supplier has to employ large
equivalent is the Chemical Abstracts Service andnumbers of technical specialists and administrators
their registration is better known as CASto ensure compliance at every stage. There are
Numbers. In 2009 there are in excess of fiftyof course strong plus points too, by complying
million chemical substances in the CAS registry,with all the legislative requirements and standards
and this is growing by thousands every week. Inmeans the health and well being of the planet and
addition to registering the chemicals used, toall the people living on it are much better
make life more complicated, in the U.K we haveprotected.
to comply with COSHH regulations dealing with the