The European Union and the United States are two significant markets for footwear & leather products from China, and they lead the world in technical standards of footwear & leather products. However, there is no specialized regulation on footwear & leather products in EU and US, except that many product safety regulations are equally apply to footwear & leather products with strict requirements. Compared to the EU and US, the footwear & leather products regulations in China contain specialized footwear & leather standards and requirements indifferent materials, leading to more systematic technical specifications for footwear & leather products. The main regulations of footwear and leather products in EU, US and China are listed below.
Regulations of Footwear & Leather products
| Region | Regulation | Scope | Testing Item |
| EU | REACH (1907/2006/EC) Article 33 | Article | SVHC |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 20 | Coating, Ink, plastic, rubber, synthetic leather, textile | Organic tin | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 23 | Metal, Coating, plastic, rubber, synthetic leather | Cadmium | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 27 | Metal and metal coating intended to come into direct and prolonged contact with the skin | Nickel release | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 43 | Textiles, leather, synthetic leather come into contact with skin | AZO Dyes | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 46a | Textiles | NPEO | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 47 | Leather come into contact with skin | Cr (VI) | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 50 | Coating, Ink, plastic, rubber, synthetic leather come into contact with skin | PAHs | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 51 | Plasticized material | Phthalates | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 61 | Preservative desiccant, leather | DMFu | |
| REACH (1907/2006/EC) Annex 17 Item 72 | Clothing and related accessories, other textiles and footwear that come into contact with the skin | 33 carcinogenic, mutagenic or reproductive toxicity classes 1A and 1B listed in Annex 12 (CMR-1A & 1B substances) | |
| (EU) 2019/1021-POPs | Waterproof processing of textiles, leather synthetic leather | PFOS&PFOA | |
| (EU) 2019/1021-POPs | Plastic, rubber, leather, synthetic leather | SCCP | |
| German Chemical Prohibition Regulation,(EU) 2019/1021-POPs | Natural textiles and leather | PCP | |
| USA | CPSIA | Children’s products, including but not limited to toys, garment, childcare articles and children’s furniture | Lead |
| Toys and child care articles | Phthalates | ||
| California Proposition 65 | Metal, coating, leather, synthetic leather, plastic, rubber | Lead | |
| Coating, plastic, rubber, synthetic leather | Phthalates | ||
| China | GB 30585 | This standard is applicable to footwear worn by children 14 years of age and younger and where the shoe size is not larger than 250 mm | Sharp nail tip, Broken needle |
| Sharp edge, Sharp point | |||
| Small part (Infant’s shoe) | |||
| Accessories strength (Infant’s shoe) | |||
| Shank | |||
| Technical heel height | |||
| Odours | |||
| Dimethyl fumarate (DMFU) | |||
| Chromium (VI) | |||
| N-nitrosamines in rubber (Infant’s shoe) | |||
| Harmful aromatic amine | |||
| Total content of heavy metal | |||
| Formaldehyde | |||
| Phthalates | |||
| GB 20400 | The Fur and Leather | Formaldehyde | |
| Harmful aromatic amine | |||
| GB 21550 | PVC synthetic leather | Vinyl chloride monomer | |
| Soluble heavy metal | |||
| VOC |
