REACH Article 33 for Imported Articles: What the Text Says About Substances of Very High Concern Above 0.1% and the Duty to Pass Information On

Article 33 of the REACH Regulation is the provision that most often comes up when a project buyer in the EU asks for a chemical declaration on furniture, fittings or finishes imported from China. It is short. If an article contains a substance on the candidate list in a concentration above 0.1 % by weight, the supplier of that article must pass information down the chain, and a consumer who asks must be answered within 45 days. What the text does not do is list the substances, because the list is maintained separately and changes.

This article reads the consolidated text of Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 dated 22 June 2026 (EUR-Lex), which was the latest consolidated version listed by the Publications Office when we queried it on 27 October 2026, together with the provision of the Waste Framework Directive that builds on Article 33. We did not read the candidate list itself, the European Chemicals Agency’s guidance on substances in articles, the case law on how the 0.1 % threshold applies to the parts of an assembled product, or national enforcement. It is a reading of the text, not legal advice.

The wording of Article 33

Paragraph 1 reads: “Any supplier of an article containing a substance meeting the criteria in Article 57 and identified in accordance with Article 59(1) in a concentration above 0,1 % weight by weight (w/w) shall provide the recipient of the article with sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use of the article including, as a minimum, the name of that substance.” Paragraph 2 gives the same duty towards a consumer, but only “on request”, and adds: “The relevant information shall be provided, free of charge, within 45 days of receipt of the request.”

Three limits are built into the sentence. The substance must meet the criteria of Article 57 and have been identified under Article 59(1), which is the route to the candidate list. The concentration must be above 0.1 % w/w. And the information required is what is “available to the supplier”, with the name of the substance as the floor. Nothing in Article 33 bans a substance or stops an article from being sold; it is an information duty.

Who counts as the supplier, the recipient and the importer

The definitions are in Article 3. An article is an object whose special shape, surface or design, given to it in manufacture, “determines its function to a greater degree than does its chemical composition”. A supplier of an article is “any producer or importer of an article, distributor or other actor in the supply chain placing an article on the market”. A recipient of an article is “an industrial or professional user, or a distributor, being supplied with an article but does not include consumers”. So a contractor, a developer’s procurement company or an FF&E purchaser buying articles for a job is a recipient, and a consumer is dealt with separately in paragraph 2.

Two other definitions decide where the duty lands on an import. An importer is “any natural or legal person established within the Community who is responsible for import”, and “Import shall be deemed to be placing on the market”. A producer of an article is a person who “makes or assembles an article within the Community”. Read together, the EU-established importer of a chair, a door set or a floor sample is plainly a supplier under Article 33. The definitions do not settle by themselves what duty a factory outside the EU carries. For the importer, what matters is that the duty covers the information “available to the supplier”, so the importer has to obtain that information from the factory, which is why the requests in the last section go to the factory early.

What the threshold and the list mean in practice

The criteria in Article 57 cover substances classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction in categories 1A or 1B, substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, substances that are very persistent and very bioaccumulative, and, under point (f), substances such as those with endocrine-disrupting properties for which there is scientific evidence of probable serious effects that give rise to an equivalent level of concern. Article 59 sets the procedure for identifying such substances and “establishing a candidate list for eventual inclusion in Annex XIV”. Paragraph 10 adds: “The Agency shall publish and update the list referred to in paragraph 1 on its website without delay after a decision on inclusion of a substance has been taken.”

Because the list is updated, an answer to an Article 33 question is only good for the version of the list it was checked against. A buyer who collects a declaration should record the date of the list the factory used, and should expect to ask again when the list changes. We did not read the current list and make no statement about which substances are on it or which products they appear in.

One question the text leaves open is how 0.1 % w/w is measured for an article assembled from parts, such as a window with seals, a chair with a cushion or a cabinet with a gasket and a handle. Article 33 speaks of “an article” and of a concentration in it, and does not say whether the percentage is taken on the whole product or on each component. That point is settled by guidance and case law, which we did not read, so a buyer’s compliance lead should confirm the basis before relying on a factory’s figure, and should ask the factory to state which basis it used.

Article 7: a different duty with a different threshold

Article 33 is often mixed up with Article 7(2), which is a notification to the Agency, not a message to a customer. Under Article 7(2), a producer or importer of articles must notify the Agency if a candidate-list substance is “present in those articles in quantities totalling over one tonne per producer or importer per year” and “present in those articles above a concentration of 0,1 % weight by weight (w/w)”. Both conditions have to be met, whereas Article 33 contains no tonnage condition at all: its trigger is the concentration in the article.

Article 7(3) says the notification duty “shall not apply where the producer or importer can exclude exposure to humans or the environment during normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use including disposal”, in which case the producer or importer supplies appropriate instructions to the recipient. Article 7(7) fixes the timing: the notification rules apply “six months after a substance is identified in accordance with Article 59(1)”. Article 7(1), a separate duty to register substances intended to be released from articles above one tonne per year, is not part of this note.

The waste-law link: information passed on to the Agency

The Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, consolidated here at the version of 16 October 2025 (EUR-Lex), adds a second recipient for the same information. Article 9(1)(i) requires Member States to “ensure that any supplier of an article as defined in point 33 of Article 3” of REACH “provides the information pursuant to Article 33(1) of that Regulation to the European Chemicals Agency as from 5 January 2021”. Article 9(2) requires the Agency to “establish a database for the data to be submitted to it pursuant to point (i) of paragraph 1 by 5 January 2020” and to give waste treatment operators access to it; it “shall also provide access to that database to consumers upon request.”

The Directive does not name the database with an acronym, and we did not read the Agency’s own pages on it, so we describe it only in the Directive’s words. For a buyer the point is that information given in answer to Article 33(1) is not a private message between two companies: the same data set goes to a database that waste operators can read.

What to ask a factory to put in writing

The duty sits with the EU-established supplier, so the practical task is to collect what that supplier can pass on. The list below is a set of requests derived from the text above, not a list of documents the Regulation prescribes.

• A statement for each article on the order of whether any component contains a substance on the candidate list above 0.1 % w/w, and the date of the candidate list version used for the check.
• If the answer is yes: the name of the substance, the component it is in, and the safe-use information available to the factory, which is the minimum Article 33(1) calls for.
• The basis of the 0.1 % calculation, stated as the whole article or the individual component, with the method the factory used.
• The factory’s own upstream declarations, if it holds them, for coatings, plastics, textiles and metal parts, because the duty reaches only information available to the supplier.
• A commitment to update the declaration when the candidate list changes, and to say so if a material is changed between the sample and bulk production.
• For goods that reach end users who are consumers: confirmation that the importer can reach the factory within the 45 days that paragraph 2 allows for a consumer request.

For other EU rules that sit beside this one on the same product, see our readings of the General Product Safety Regulation, the Construction Products Regulation, the ecodesign rules for light sources and the EU deforestation rules for wooden furniture.

Frequently asked questions about REACH Article 33

What does REACH Article 33 require?

Article 33(1) requires any supplier of an article containing a candidate-list substance above 0.1 % weight by weight to give the recipient of the article sufficient information, available to the supplier, to allow safe use, including at least the name of the substance. Article 33(2) gives a consumer the same information on request, free of charge, within 45 days.

Who is a supplier of an article under REACH?

Article 3(33) defines it as any producer or importer of an article, distributor or other actor in the supply chain placing an article on the market. An importer is a person established in the EU who is responsible for import, and import is deemed to be placing on the market.

Is Article 33 the same as the notification to the Agency in Article 7?

No. Article 7(2) requires a producer or importer to notify the Agency when a candidate-list substance is present in its articles above one tonne per year in total and above 0.1 % w/w, subject to the exposure exception in Article 7(3). Article 33 is a duty to pass information to recipients and, on request, to consumers.

Does Article 33 ban articles that contain a substance on the candidate list?

Not by its own wording. It is an information duty. Restrictions and authorisation requirements are in other parts of the Regulation, which this article does not cover.

What does the Waste Framework Directive add?

Article 9(1)(i) of Directive 2008/98/EC requires that suppliers of articles provide the Article 33(1) information to the European Chemicals Agency from 5 January 2021, and Article 9(2) provides for an Agency database that waste treatment operators, and consumers on request, can access.

How does FBM Sourcing support this kind of project?

We review the brief, collect comparable quotations and manage the package for the project. For suppliers you nominate, we charge a 5% commission; for products we source for you, we quote a direct price. Our own team performs one inspection after bulk production is complete and before shipment, and the client’s project team is welcome to attend.

FBM Sourcing manages the entire China procurement package for overseas construction projects. We work with Developers · General Contractors · Builders · Commercial Project Owners · Interior Design & Construction Companies · FF&E Solution Providers.