The authorization of CrO3 is immensely important for the gravure printing industry. With significant participation by the Heliograph company K.Walter as well as the ERA (European Rotogravure Association), leading European companies are driving this process in the EU. Here’s the current situation.

Together with the EU Member States, the EU Commission is still hard at work on the authorization of CrO3 for the gravure cylinder manufacturing industry (some other applications for special and individual applications have already been successfully adopted). The next decisions for gravure printing in the Functional Chrome Group are planned for June 2017. Whether something will actually be decided at this time is not certain. If not, the authorization decision could first be announced after the deadline for CrO3 use on September 21, 2017 (sunset date).

For all downstream users who are directly or indirectly supplied by the seven applicants and their distributors, such as K.Walter, nothing would change at first. They could continue usage until the final decision of the European Commission; further use of CrO3 by K.Walter customers is thus ensured.

If the authorization is definitively granted, downstream users, including K.Walter customers would have to report their use of chromium trioxide to the ECHA. This would have to happen within three months after a company received a delivery of CrO3 with the new safety data sheet, including authorization number. It would be obligatory for the company to comply with the conditions, which will be part of the authorization document.

To ensure that users in the gravure printing industry carry out the correct actions, K.Walter and the ERA will write a detailed manual describing all processes as well as all regulations that must be observed.