China – GB 25038-2024: General safety requirements for footwear, Effective June 1,2025

Vol. 1413 | 25 Jul 2024

The Standardization Administration of China has announced that GB 25038-2024 “General safety requirements for footwear” will come into effect on June 1, 2025. The standard is applicable to footwear products made of various materials. It does not apply to protective shoes (boots), footwear for children aged 14 years or below.

The main changes of the new and old standards are as follows:

• Changed the standard name and scope of application, the name of the standard has been modified from the original “Rubber shoes healthy and safe specification” to “General safety requirements for footwear”, expanding the scope of the standard.
• Deleted the classification requirements, the original standard is divided into Type A (rubber shoes for infants) and Type B (rubber shoes excluding those for infants).
• Added the requirements and test methods of sharp nail tip and broken needle.
• Deleted the requirements and test methods of pH value, extractable heavy metals, N- Nitrosamine, color fastness to rubbing for lining and insole.
• Changed the requirements and test methods of formaldehyde and carcinogenic aromatic amine dyestuffs.
• Added the requirements and test methods of Cr (VI), dimethyl fumarate, chlorinated phenols, phthalates, short-chain chlorinated paraffins.

Article 4 of the standard specifies the mandatory safety requirements for footwear. The specific requirements are as below.

1. Scope of application
   • Applicable: footwear products made of various materials.
   • Not applicable: protective shoes (boots), footwear for children aged 14 years old or below.
2. Sharp nail tip and broken needle
   • Sharp nail tip: There should be no sharp nail tip inside of footwear. Except for special style or functional needs, there should be no sharp nail tip outside of footwear.
   • Broken needle: There should be no broken needle inside or outside of footwear.
3. Restricted chemical substances

   Table 1

   NO.	ITEM	MATERIAL	UNIT	REQUIREMENTS
   1	Hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI))	Leather, fur	mg/kg	≤10
   2	Carcinogenic aromatic amine dyestuffs	Textile	mg/kg	≤20
   		Artificial leather, synthetic leather	mg/kg	≤30
   		Leather, fur	mg/kg	≤30
   3	Formaldehyde	Textile, artificial leather, synthetic leather, leather fur	mg/kg	Directly contact to skin: ≤75 Without directly contact to skin: ≤300
   4	Dimethyl fumarate	Textile, artificial leather, synthetic leather, leather, fur	mg/kg	≤0.1
   5	Chlorinated phenols	Textile, artificial leather, synthetic leather	mg/kg	Pentachlorophenol (PCP): ≤0.5 2,3,5,6-Tetrachlorophenol (TeCP): ≤0.5
   		Leather, fur	mg/kg	Pentachlorophenol: ≤0.5
   6	Phthalates	Material with coating (printing), artificial leather, synthetic leather, rubber, plastic, and other synthetic materials	%	Total content of DEHP, DBP, BBP DIBP: ＜0.1
   7	SCCP (Short-chain chlorinated paraffins) C10~C13	Textile, artificial leather, synthetic leather, leather, fur, rubber, plastic, and other synthetic materials	%	＜0.15
   Remark 1: Material of accessible parts shall be test. Remark 2: Generally, the lining and insock (insole) are materials that directly contact to skin, upper and outsole are materials do not directly contact to skin. If there is no lining and insock (insole) in the shoe, upper or outsole is material that directly contact to skin.

   Table A List of carcinogenic aromatic amines

   No.	Name	CAS No.
   1	4-aminobiphenyl	92-67-1
   2	benzidine	92-87-5
   3	4-chloro-o-toluidine	95-69-2
   4	2-naphthylamine	91-59-8
   5	o-aminoazotoluene	97-56-3
   6	2-amino-4-nitrotoluene	99-55-8
   7	p-chloroaniline	106-47-8
   8	2,4-diaminoanisole	615-05-4
   9	4,4′-diaminobiphenylmethane	101-77-9
   10	3,3′-dichlorobenzidine	91-94-1
   11	3,3′-dimethoxybenzidine	119-90-4
   12	3,3′-dimethylbenzidine	119-93-7
   13	3,3′-dimethyl-4,4′-diaminobiphenylmethane	838-88-0
   14	p-cresidine	120-71-8
   15	4,4′-methylene-bis-(2-chloroaniline)	101-14-4
   16	4,4′-oxydianiline	101-80-4
   17	4,4′-thiodianiline	139-65-1
   18	o-toluidine	95-53-4
   19	2,4-toluylenediamine	95-80-7
   20	2,4,5-trimethylaniline	137-17-7
   21	o-anisidine	90-04-0
   22	2,4-xylidine	95-68-1
   23	2,6-xylidine	87-62-7
   24	4-aminoazobenzene	60-09-3

   Table B Information of restricted phthalate plasticizer

   No.	Name	CAS No.
   1	dibutyl phthalate (DBP)	84-74-2
   2	benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP)	85-68-7
   3	di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP)	117-81-7
   4	diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)	84-69-5

   According to the Administrative Measures for Mandatory National Standards and GB 25038-2024, the quality control recommendations for footwear are as follows:

   Products produced/ imported date	Implementation date	Intertek suggestion
   Before June 1, 2025	December 1,2026	From now on, implement new standards to reduce market risks.
   After June 1, 2025	June 1, 2025

 

For more information, please contact:

Shanghai
Ms. Anna Yang
Tel: +86 21 53395317
anna.yang@intertek.com

Guangzhou
Ms. Liu Hui Li
Tel: +86 20 2820 9274
huili.liu@intertek.com

Tianjin
Mr. Ocean Liu
Tel: +86 22 8371 2083
ocean.liu@intertek.com

Mr. Benson Liu
Tel: +86 18561256611
benson.liu@intertek.com