Ink, as everyone knows has been around for thousands of years and early versions of black ink were made from not much more than soot and water. With the advent of new printing technologies, the ink systems have become more and more complex. Inks used in the refills of Printed Pens, commonly referred to as promotional pens, or promotional giveaways typically contain six or more different ingredients and a similar number are used to produce the printed logos. In a legal sense, humble printing inks are now regarded more like a lethal cocktail of toxic chemicals than simple printing inks. So much so, that inks used in writing instruments have to comply with a raft of legislation and some very complicated international standards.

Firstly, there are requirements to register the chemicals being used. Registers of chemicals were set up in Europe and the U.S.A and particularly for exporters, there is a requirement to be registered with all the relevant bodies. For instance in Europe, for well-established products there is a requirement to be registered under EINECS. (European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances). However, under the European Chemical Agency there is also a requirement to Register under the REACH Regulations (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals.). In North America the equivalent is the Chemical Abstracts Service and their registration is better known as CAS Numbers. In 2009 there are in excess of fifty million chemical substances in the CAS registry, and this is growing by thousands every week. In addition to registering the chemicals used, to make life more complicated, in the U.K we have to comply with COSHH regulations dealing with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, which requires risk assessments to be carried out and a sixteen point Material Safety Data Sheet to be sent out with each consignment.

In addition, certain National Agencies require specific standards to be met before products can be sold. e.g for the Food Industry in the USA, all printed matter coming into contact with foodstuffs requires FDA approval. Then add to this in Europe for printing inks used on toys, EN71 section 9 specifies the levels of heavy metals that cannot be exceeded to supply to toy manufacturers.

Just in case you think, how much more of this can there be? this article barely touches the surface. I have ignored Quality Standards such as ISO9001 and Environmental Protection Standard !SO14001, although of course the Environmental Agency, along with the National Rivers Authority, and the Health and Safety Executive will be keeping a watchful eye out for any transgressions. Finally, before manufacturers can send anything out the packaging and labels must comply with CHIPS requirements (Chemical Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply)

So, as you can imagine, to supply something as simple as the ink that goes into your Promotional Pens, or indeed an ink used to put a logo onto a Printed Pen, the supplier has to employ large numbers of technical specialists and administrators to ensure compliance at every stage. There are of course strong plus points too, by complying with all the legislative requirements and standards means the health and well being of the planet and all the people living on it are much better protected.