Amendment to the CLP Regulation on liquid consumer laundry detergent capsules

On 5 December 2014, the European Commission adopted an amendment to the CLP Regulation (Regulation (EU) N° 1297/2014, the "Soluble Packaging Regulation"), further building on the key activities of the detergents industry and the voluntary A.I.S.E. Product Stewardship Programme for liquid laundry detergent capsules.

As of June 2015, liquid laundry detergent capsules have to be delivered in opaque or obscure outer packaging, that always bears the precautionary statement "Keep out of reach of children”, and that has closures that are difficult for small children to open. The soluble film of the capsules has to resist compression up to a pressure of 300 Newton, it has to retain the liquid content for at least 30 seconds when immersed in water, and it has to contain a safe aversive agent that causes a fast repulsive reaction in case of accidental contact with the mouth.

In absence of formal guidance on the implementation of the CLP requirements, A.I.S.E. has developed practical tools and advice  on:
-    the reduced visibility of the capsules through the ‘outer packaging’;
-    P102 CLP precautionary sentence on-pack labelling (safe use instructions);
-    child-impeding closures;
-    measuring oral rejection time and thereby determining effective levels of aversive agent in the soluble film;
-    measuring the liquid containment function of soluble packaging through a dynamometric test protocol and a film dissolution test protocol.