Council Directive 91/338/EEC of 18 June 1991 limits the use of cadmium compounds in PVC products. Except in a very few applications, placing on the market of products manufactured from plastic materials coloured or stabilised with cadmium is prohibited if the content of cadmium exceeds 0.01% by mass of the plastic material.
The use of cadmium in all stabiliser systems placed on the European market has been phased out in March 2001, as part of the initial steps of the Voluntary Commitment (Vinyl 2010). This means that no member of ESPA sells anymore such products in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland, and that EuPC communicates to its members not to use cadmium based stabilisers
