Chemicals management

Philips is highly committed to sustainable product design, development and production, thus enabling sustainable product use and waste handling at the end of service of a product. Philips actively strives to reduce the environmental impact of its products, starting with the selection of substances. It is vital that good chemicals management is applied at all stages of a product’s life cycle.

Philips’ Chemicals Management strategy demands that Philips adheres to the strictest global chemical regulatory requirements for substances used in products and their manufacturing, based on stringent laws and scientifically established threshold limit values.

With our longstanding belief in the precautionary principle, eliminating or minimizing the use of hazardous substances in our products and production processes is an important part of our EcoDesign process.

Chemicals management

Philips is highly committed to sustainable product design, development and production, thus enabling sustainable product use and waste handling at the end of service of a product. Philips actively strives to reduce the environmental impact of its products, starting with the selection of substances. It is vital that good chemicals management is applied at all stages of a product’s life cycle.

Philips’ Chemicals Management strategy demands that Philips adheres to the strictest global chemical regulatory requirements for substances used in products and their manufacturing, based on stringent laws and scientifically established threshold limit values.

With our longstanding belief in the precautionary principle, eliminating or minimizing the use of hazardous substances in our products and production processes is an important part of our EcoDesign process.

Philips Regulated Substances List
Philips Regulated Substances List
Philips’ product requirements are captured in the Philips Regulated Substances List (RSL), a global Philips policy. It prioritizes substances which have been identified by regulators across the globe as being of the greatest concern in products. The RSL aims to control, reduce or even eliminate harmful materials and their effect on the environment and people’s health and well-being.

Philips also proactively seeks to phase out or even ban particular substances of concern – before they are subject to any legal enforcement. Philips Policies may therefore go beyond legislative compliance based on scientific evidence and stakeholder consultation. Decisions to seek substitute substances are based on consideration of the level of concern, commercial availability, and technical feasibility of potential alternatives.

The Regulated Substances List (RSL) includes substances:

banned by law or by Philips;

that need to be monitored due to regulatory requirements; or

that Philips wants to monitor from a precautionary principle point of view.

The Philips RSL covers many jurisdictions worldwide, with the most important ones being EU REACH, EU RoHS, EU POP, EU MDR and California Proposition 65, as further detailed on this page.

English

Regulated Substances List (712.0KB)

Chinese

Regulated Substances List (1.38MB)
BOMcheck
BOMcheck

The RSL is updated twice per year to ensure it captures the latest substance compliance requirements and concerns, and is always aligned with the substances listed in BOMcheck – an industry platform which is aligned with the IEC62472 standard and allows companies to collect regulatory compliance declarations on RoHS, EU REACH, California Proposition 65 and any other restricted and declarable substances regulation.

Philips’ suppliers are regarded as crucial partners in the company’s chemicals management strategy and must comply with the Philips RSL, which is also part of the Philips Terms of Conditions for suppliers.

Supply management website
Philips and the REACH Regulation
Philips and the REACH Regulation

Philips adheres to the objectives of the European REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and backs its further improvement, including the aim to advance public health and safety, and protection of the environment. REACH applies to all suppliers (inside and outside Europe) who want to sell, import or manufacture chemicals and/or products containing certain chemicals into the European Union.
REACH related to substances of concern in articles
REACH related to substances of concern in articles

REACH enables the identification of so-called Substances of Very High Concern, also referred to as SVHC. These substances are captured on the REACH Candidate List for Authorization. The use of these SVHC substances is not prohibited in the European Union, but is strictly monitored by European enforcement bodies.

With the introduction of the SCIP database on January 5, 2021, companies supplying articles containing SVHCs listed on the Candidate List in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight (w/w) on the EU market must submit specific information to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). SCIP is the database for information on Substances of Concern In articles as such or in complex objects (Products) established under the Waste Framework Directive (WFD). The SCIP database ensures that the information on articles containing Candidate List substances is available throughout the entire lifecycle of a product or material, including at the waste stage. The information in the database is then made available to, among others, waste operators and consumers.

Philips collects compliance data at the (sub-)part level for products or product packaging delivered to Philips through BOMcheck. This enables Philips to provide customers and consumers with information on the presence of SVHC as required by Article 33 of REACH.

More information on the SCIP Database

SVHCs in Philips products
Philips and RoHS
Philips and RoHS
The EU RoHS Directive 2002/95/EC came into force for the first time in 2006 and restricted the use of six specific substances found in electrical and electronic products (known as EEE). With the introduction of RoHS 2 (or RoHS Recast or CE-marking directive or 2011/65/EU) no substances were added, but the scope was expanded to cover all electrical/electronic equipment, spare parts and cables, as well as adding the RoHS categories 8 (medical devices) and 9 (control and monitoring instruments). With RoHS 2 amendment 2015/863, Category 11, the so-called ‘catch-all’ of products was added as well as four new restricted substances – all four of them phthalates.

The current full list of restricted substances for EU RoHS covers:

Cadmium (0.01 %)

Lead (0.1 %)

Mercury (0.1 %)

Hexavalent chromium (0.1 %)

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) (0.1 %)

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) (0.1 %)

Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) (0.1 %)

Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) (0.1 %)

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) (0.1 %)

Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP) (0.1 %)

Philips makes use of so-called RoHS exemptions listed in Annex III and Annex IV of Directive 2011/65/EU for different applications of RoHS substances where no technical alternatives are available, e.g. lead for X-Ray shielding. However, Philips continues to actively pursue alternatives to RoHS substances wherever possible.

RoHS compliance is not only required for the EU market: countries such as China, Ukraine, Singapore, Japan, India, Norway, UAE, Korea, Taiwan, and the US state of California have implemented comparable legislation covering the same substances.
Philips and EU POP Regulation
Philips and EU POP Regulation

In April 2004 the European Union published Regulation (EC) 850/2004 to manage Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – toxic organic chemicals with the ability to bio-accumulate in the fatty tissues of organisms and so remain persistent in the environment and become widely distributed geographically. Exposure to these chemicals is known to cause cancer, influences the hormone system (endocrine-disrupting), and may lead to reproductive and immune dysfunction, as well as neurobehavior and developmental disorders.

Philips’ chemicals strategy is fully aligned with the ambitions of the Stockholm Convention, which focuses on eliminating or reducing the release of POPs and supports the transition to safer alternatives. Philips is strongly committed to phasing out all chemicals listed as POPs and already now does not permit any of these chemicals in its EcoDesign products.
Philips and California Proposition 65
Philips and California Proposition 65

The US California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act is commonly referred to as California’s Proposition 65 (or Prop 65 for short). Businesses are required to inform individuals of potential exposure to certain chemicals that are known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive effects. Often, such information is communicated in form of a warning, either in the shape of a label on the product directly and/or in the manual or website.

A Proposition 65 warning does not necessarily mean that a product is in violation of any product-safety standards or requirements, which are commonly regulated by other federal government agencies. Generally, exposure levels that are below the so-called safe harbor levels, are exempt from the requirements of Proposition 65.

Find out more about California Proposition 65.
Biocides
Biocides

With the onset of COVID-19, more attention has been focused on the effectiveness and impact of antimicrobial usage in products. However, minimizing the spread of diseases still requires careful consideration of the risk posed by overuse of antimicrobial chemicals, which can be harmful to the environment and humans, often with unknown long-term consequences. Philips has therefore adopted a strict biocide policy avoiding the use of biocides and only permitting them if no other technically feasible solution has been identified.
Philips and the EU MDR Regulation
Philips and the EU MDR Regulation
With the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR), which came into force in 2017, major portions of the EU Medical Device Directive (MDD) had been revamped. The new MDR regulation flagged the future for more global-oriented medical device regulations, contributing significantly to a higher level of safety for patients and staff. The MDR brought more than 1,000 substances in scope, and the number of restricted substances continues to increase every year. One of the major additions to the EU MDR is the regulation of substances known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction (CMR), and/or are endocrine (hormone)-disrupting chemicals (EDC). For medical devices that contain these substances in a concentration above 0.1% weight by weight per component, a justification for using the substances and respective labelling is mandatory.

Specifically affected are materials that:

are invasive and come into direct contact with the human body;

transport or store or are used to (re)administer medicines, body liquids or other substances, including gases, to/from the body.

In cases where CMR and/or endocrine-disrupting substances must be used and where no alternatives are available, clear justification and clarification is documented, which also must prove that no additional exposure or risk for the patients occurs. Any device and/or packaging containing these substances is also labelled accordingly.

The EU MDR substance requirements are embedded in the Philips RSL. BOMcheck contains a list of all CMR category 1a and 1b and EDC substances that are likely to be present in medical devices which have been identified by the EU trade associations COCIR and MEDTECH. This list supports suppliers when submitting their BOMcheck declarations to Philips.

The chemical regulatory requirements under the new EU MDR Regulation does not affect other chemical regulations such as REACH, EU POP or the RoHS directive.
Chemicals used during manufacture and servicing
Chemicals used during manufacture and servicing

The technological and scientific advances over the past two decades have underlined, more than ever before, the importance of responsible usage of chemicals. Chemical exposure is not only relevant when considering the final product, but also and especially during the manufacturing process and during maintenance of our products. The past years have seen an unprecedented increase in chemical regulations around the globe, contributing to one of the most complex regulatory playing fields in the world. Businesses face legal obligations wherever they produce and manufacture and aim to place on the market, with obligations varying from country to country.

Philips assumes responsibility to comply with all legal requirements and to ensure responsible management of chemical substances through the life cycle of a product – starting at design, to manufacture, to servicing and recycling. Philips is committed to reduce the use and emission of substances that are classified as hazardous by striving to use alternative substances and processes as well as best available technologies wherever possible. Philips has established procedures regarding the presence, introduction, and continuous use of substances in its manufacturing processes and requires every chemical to be in compliance with the Philips Classified Substance List (CSL). The CSL, for Philips internal purposes only, contains all chemical substances that must not be used within Philips’ manufacturing processes or must be limited, monitored and/or reported at Philips.

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