There is a general ban on the import or sale of products containing lead compounds. There is a ban on the import or sale of certain products containing metallic lead. Products containing more than 0.01 per cent lead by weight are considered to contain lead.
Lead is toxic and is accumulated in humans and the environment
The goal of the rguslation is to limit the use of lead because it is a toxic heavy metal that accumulates in the body. When products containing lead are discarded, the lead is spread in the environment. We accumulate lead by consuming earth, food and drinks or breathing in dust. Accumulation of lead in the body can e.g. impact on children’s learning ability, behaviour and intelligence.
Lead compounds
There is a general ban on the import or sale of products containing lead compounds. Products covered by the regulations include glazed and enamelled products, plastic products, lubricants and brake linings.
The following products containing lead compounds are exempted from the main regulation:
- Highly flexible parts of machinery, including cables for elevators.
- Superconductors.
- Priming cartridge for ammunition and boltpistol
- Red lead for renovation of historical objects
- Arc lamps
- Paint for special applications – anticorrosion paint with less than 250 ppm lead and antifouling paint with less than 1250 ppm lead. The exemption does not apply if the lead is in the form of lead carbonate or lead sulphate.
- Glass for special applications – lighting, optics, radiation protection, crystal glass and silicate glass for sandblasting.
- Glaze on spark plugs for outdoor application.
- Glaze on tiles and bricks.
- Electronic components.
- Products for research, development and laboratory use.
Please note that chemical products to be used as paint or varnish containing more than 0.15 % lead must be labelled: "Indeholder bly. Må ikke anvendes på genstande, som børn vil kunne tygge eller sutte på" (”Contains lead. Must not be used on items which children might chew on or suck"). If the package contains less than 125 ml, it is sufficient to write "Advarsel: Indeholder bly" (“Warning: contains lead”).
However, under no circumstances may paint contain lead in the form of lead carbonate or lead sulphate. There is no lower limit for the percentage by weight for these compounds.
Metallic lead
There is a ban on the import and sale of the following products containing metallic lead:
- Hobby products.
- Tea lights and other candles.
- Curtain weights.
- Products to be used for decoration.
- Security seals.
- Products for roofing buildings.
- Products for coverings on building.
- Products used to repair or rebuild houses, except for houses preserved or worthy of preservation and churches of cultural historical significance.
- Fishing gear for commercial fishing: import and sale of sinkers, sink lines and seines.
- Fishing gear for recreational fishing.
- Soldering alloys for plumbing and tinsmith purposes, except for soldering zinc plates.
- Sheaths for electrical ground cables below 100 kV AC or below 150 kV DC, excluding sea cables.
- Lead in wheel weights for vehicles, except cars designed for the transport of a maximum of 9 people and with a permitted total weight of not more than 3500 kg.
In terms of products for repairing and extending houses, only products for roofing and covering buildings are considered.
However, protected and preservation-worthy buildings as well as church buildings of cultural-historical significance are exempt. Products containing lead for roofing and covering of/from protected and preservation-worthy buildings, when it is only a matter of repair and extension of these, will therefore be exempt from the rules.
Preservation-worthy buildings are divided into categories. The Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces has informed that it is the individual municipality that decides in which categories original materials should be used, and in which categories the prohibition against the use of lead applies. It is thus the municipality that decides whether a building is preservation-worthy in a category that exempts it from the prohibition against lead-containing products. This exception, however, only applies to the repair of roofing and covering and to roofing and covering in connection with extensions of preservation-worthy buildings.
Fishing gear for recreational fishing refers to tools that are produced with the main purpose of catching fish using a rod, pilk or similar light hand tools and includes, for example, fishing rods, fishing reels and terminal tackle (for example jig heads, lures, sinkers and leads).
Exemption from the lead regulation
In very special cases, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency may allow the rules in the regulation to be deviated from, and conditions can be set for the permit. An overall assessment of the specific case will always be made, and environmental and health considerations will weigh heavily in a decision about exemption.
An application for exemption must be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency: by email to mst@mst.dk or to the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, Att.: Chemicals, Tolderlundsvej 5, 5000 Odense C. Here, further information about criteria and information requirements for the application can also be requested.
General exceptions
The rules of the lead regulation do not apply to products for export to other EU countries, raw materials and semi-finished products, as well as used products, which met Danish requirements at first sale.
The prohibition also does not apply to products for the repair of existing products.
Other rules for lead Some products are subject to other rules regulating lead. These include motor gasoline, batteries and accumulators, firearms and ammunition, slags and fly ash, waste products, packaging, medical devices, ceramic objects intended to come into contact with food, electrical and electronic products, etc.
The rules of the lead regulation do not prevent the import and sale of products regulated by other rules.
If you want to know if your company's product is subject to rules on lead, read more in our theme section.
Importers and distributors are responsible
Anyone who sells or imports products containing lead is responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulation, as set out in the Statutory Order.
Companies must document compliance with the regulation. The documentation can be measurements of lead concentration in their products, but it can also consist of e.g. a combination of:
- Written agreements on demands to the supplier of raw materials, semi-finished goods or final products
- Quality management by the producer
- Self enforcement, e.g. random tests
There is no official standard for measuring the lead content in products. The companies are responsible of finding a suitable measuring method.
Control
The Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical inspectors monitor compliance with the regulations and will ensure that illegal situations are brought into compliance. This may involve withdrawing the product from the Danish market, or making the product legal in some other way. Anyone who breaches the regulations may additionally face a fine or prison sentence of up to two years.