The Netherlands Tightens Safety Requirements for Food-Contact Ceramics

Vol. 1542 | 02 Jun 2026

The Netherlands has updated its food-contact ceramics rules, reducing allowable lead and cadmium migration limits and requiring compliance documentation under EU Directive 84/500/EEC. The new decree strengthens safety controls, with transition provisions for products already on the market.

On May 4, 2026, the Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport published a significant legislative update in the official gazette. This new decree amends the Dutch Commodities Act Regulation on Packaging and Consumer Products.

The primary purpose of this amendment is to strengthen the safety standards and maximum permissible heavy metal migration limits for ceramic articles intended to come into contact with food.

The amendment updates Paragraph 1 of Chapter VI of Part A in Annex A of the Dutch Regulation, introducing new thresholds and stricter risk-assessment protocols for food-contact materials.

Reductions in Heavy Metal Migration Limits

The regulation reduces the maximum allowable limits for the specific migration of toxic heavy metals—specifically lead and cadmium—leaching from ceramic kitchenware into foodstuffs. The amount of cadmium and lead shall not exceed the following specific migration limits:

Category of ceramic articles	Cadmium	Lead
Category 1 (Articles that cannot be filled, or can be filled but have an internal depth of less than 25 mm)	4 µg/dm²	6 µg/dm²
Category 2 (All other articles that can be filled)	20 µg/l	30 µg/l
Category 3 (Cooking ware; packaging and storage vessels with a capacity exceeding 3 L)	7 µg/l	10 µg/l

Declaration of Compliance

Ceramic articles demonstrating verification against the updated criteria must be accompanied by documentation under Article 2a of the EU Directive 84/500/EEC.

Enforcement Timeline and Transition Period

The new regulation officially comes into force on May 29, 2026. Ceramic products that meet the older compliance criteria as of May 28, 2026, and are first placed on the market before December 1, 2026, may remain on sale until existing inventories are completely exhausted.

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