Revised Quality Norms for Finished Leather Exports

[DGFT Public Notice No. 21 dated 1st December 2009]

Subject: Export of Finished Leather- Revised Leather Norms

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992 (No 22 of 1992), the Director General of Foreign Trade hereby specifies, for the purpose of the entry “Finished Leather all kinds” appearing at Serial No:142, Chapter 41, Schedule 2 – Export Policy, of the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, that the items mentioned in column 2 of the table hereunder shall constitute “Finished Leather” and the same may be exported without a license but subject to the terms and conditions specified against each item in column 3 of the table hereunder.”

SNo.	Description of item	Manufacturing Norms Conditions.
1	2	3
I	Leathers with finishing coat (All substrates – Goat and Sheep skins and Bovine hides/sides calf skins including splits)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing (optional) c. Fatliquoring d. Finishing coat
II	Suede Leathers (All substrates including splits)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing in light/pastel/medium/dark shades (in case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique) c. Fatliquoring d. Buffing to produce suede nap e. Shaving/snuffing of the grain along the backbone 2 inches on either side in the case of goat and sheep skins and in the case of bovine hides/sides and calf skins all over the grain side
III	Nubuck Leathers (All substrates including butts and bends)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing in light/pastel/medium/dark shades (in case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique) c. Fatliquoring d. Buffing on the grain to produce nap with writing effect (or) Buffing on the grain and presence of oil in the case of oil nubuck leather
IV	Bovine hides/sides based Lining Leathers:	Thickness less than or equal to 1.0 mm a. Tanning b. Dyeing in light/pastel/medium/dark shades (in case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique) c. Fatliquoring
V	Gloving leathers (All substrates):	Thickness should be less than or equal to 1.0 mm and run should be minimum of 15% a. Tanning b. Dyeing (optional) c. Fatliquoring d. Wax coat
VI	Burnishable Leathers (All substrates including butts and bends)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing in light/pastel/medium/dark shades (in case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique) c. Fatliquoring d. Wax coat e. Burnishable effect on rubbing (Minimum CIE ∆L value of –5.0 on 10 dry rubbing on SATRA Fastness tester or any other fastness tester as measured on a Reflectance spectrophotometer)
VII	Pull Up Leather – Wax/Oil (All substrates including butts and bends)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing in light/pastel/medium/dark shades(in case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique) c. Fatliquoring d. Wax coat (or) Oil coat e. Pull up effect (Minimum CIE ∆L value of +5.0 as measured on a reflectance spectrophotometer)
VIII	Heavy Leathers including sole leather, harness and belting leathers (Bovine hides/sides including butts and bends)	Heavy substance with thickness of 3.0 mm or more and with minimum of apparent density 0.9 gm/cc) a. Vegetable Tanning b. Oiling/stuffing c. Rolling / Plating
IX	Hair/wool on leathers (All substrates including rabbit skins)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing(optional) c. Fatliquoring d. Wool/hair combing
X	Laminated Leathers (All substrates including splits)	a. Tanning b. Dyeing(optional) c. Fatliquoring d. Application of foil/film/lamination
XI	Chamois Leathers (All substrates)	a. Aldehyde and fish oil combination tanning b. Buffing to produce suede nap c. Complete shaving/snuffing of the grain
XII	Shrunken Grain/Washed leathers (All substrates)	Should have pronounced change in the grain pattern/texture of grain a. Tanning b. Dyeing (in the case of doubt, the presence of dye to be ascertained by chromatographic technique c. Fatliquoring d. Wax coat
XIII	Wax/Oil coated leathers	a. Tanning b. Dyeing in medium/dark shades c. Fatliquoring d. Wax coat (or) Oil Coat

NOTE: Any new type of finished leather not covered under the above categories shall be permitted for export, subject to testing and certification by Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI)

Definitions of Manufacturing Operations

Tanning – Tanning with one or more than one kind of tanning agent, such as mineral tanning and vegetable tanning and / or syntan tanning and/ or resin tanning and/or aldehyde tanning, oil tanning in any sequence and or any new type of tanning.

Dyeing – Treating the leather with a solution of dye/s to impart a colour . In case of doubt the presence of dye should be ascertained by extracting dye from leather using suitable solvent mixture and by running thin layer chromatography (TLC)

Note: 1:- Testing for the presence of dye:

Organic layer separated from Butanol, acetic acid and water mixture taken in the ratio 4: 1: 5, using a separating funnel is taken as the eluting solvent for TLC analysis.

Dye is extracted from the leather using dichloromethane and methanol (1: 1) mixture. The cut pieces of leathers are heated in a water bath with the solvent mixture for few miniutes.The extracted dye is kept as a spot on the TLC paper and the strip is kept in the eluting solvent such that the dye spot lies above the solvent level. The presence of the dye is confirmed by its movement to a considerable distance and from the formation of a dye curve or peak on the TLC paper.

Fatliquoring – Treating the leather with oil and/or fat, emulsified in water for rendering the leather soft

Finishing Coat – Finishing coat shall contain a film forming material/ binder in combination with colorants such as pigments or dyes or a combination of both. The film forming material/binder shall comprise materials singly or in combination such as proteins or synthetic acrylic or polyurethane, vinyls lacquers or lacquer emulsions.

If necessary, microscopic examination of the surface at minimum 100 times magnification shall be carried out to detect the finishing coat.

Note 2: - Microscopic examination for finish coat:

Binocular stereoscopic microscope with (two paired) objectives capable of viewing the objects at a total magnification of 100X will be required. Stereoscopic microscope gives a three dimensional view of the object.

Leather sample to be examined is placed on the stage of the microscope with the grain facing the objectives and then the surface is focused. Two or three places in each of the five locations namely butt, belly (one each side of the back bone line) and neck or shoulder examined.

To the naked eye, the grain surface may appear to be plain, but when focused under microscope, innumerable depressions can be seen on the surface. These depressions are due to cleavages lines and hair pores. If finish coat is sprayed on the grain surface, it will be present throughout, including depressed areas and both the depressed and other areas will produce the same type of reflection which is clearly visible under the microscope.

Buffing – An operation to produce a clean flesh surface to produce nap on leather by the action of emery wheel or a buffing machine

Shaving – A mechanical operation of reducing the substance of leather to uniform thickness by scrapping off layers from flesh or grain side

Snuffing – The process of buffing the grain side of leather usually done by buffing machine, with visible evidence of removal of grain

Oiling – The operation of rubbing oil on the grain side of wet or sammed leather with the object of making the leather soft and pliable; in the case of vegetable tanned leather also to protect the color of tannage from darkening by oxidation.

Wax coat – Wax particulate matter should be seen under Microscope (100x) after the application of xylene on the grain surface.

Note 3:-Microscopic examination of wax coat:

A small drop of xylene is placed on the surface of the leather. The surface is scrapped gently using a glass rod. Leather is left for 2-3 minutes. The dried leather surface is observed under microscope for the presence of wax crystals on the surface.

Burnishable Effect – Rubbing on grain surface of leather should show a distinct gloss with a darkening of the shade giving rise to a burnishing effect. Minimum CIE ∆L value of – 5.0 on 10 dry rubbing on SATRA or any other fastness tester

Pull up Effect – Leather shall produce a distinct pull-up effect showing a contrast light color from the base minimum CIE ∆L value of +5 as measured by the reflectance spectrophotometer.

Wool Combing – The operation through which wool entanglements are released.

Application of foil/film – Acrylic/ PVC/PU foil or film

Rolling – The operation of rolling the heavy leathers like sole leather using a heavy roller with rolling machine.

2. This issues in public interest.