On November 19, 2024, following the mandatory national standard revision plan issued by the National Standards Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the completion of the drafting of eight mandatory national standards, including "Limits on Heavy Metals in Inks" (draft for comments). To further gather opinions from all sectors of society, these drafts are currently open for public comment until January 18, 2025.
The standard for "Limits on Heavy Metals in Inks," designated as plan number 20090944-Q-607, specifies the maximum allowable levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, and soluble heavy metals (soluble antimony, soluble arsenic, soluble barium, soluble cadmium, soluble chromium, soluble lead, soluble mercury, and soluble selenium) in inks. It also outlines the methods for sample preparation and determination, applicable to ink products.