GB/T 8939-2025 Sanitary Pad Standard: What Changed and What Buyers Should Check

A buyer asked me last month whether the pads he was about to order "met the new GB/T 8939 standard." The honest answer was: which one? There are two in play right now, and confusing them is how a buyer ends up with a spec sheet that's technically correct but dated. Here's the clean version, with the dates that actually matter for an order.

The short version: two standards, a transition window

Treat these as the facts on the ground today:

• GB/T 8939-2018 — released 2018-06-07, in force since 2019-07-01. This is the currently effective version. Products made and shipped today are still built and tested against it.
• GB/T 8939-2025 — released 2025-12-31, effective 2027-01-01. It fully replaces the 2018 version on that date.

If your supplier tells you they're "fully compliant with GB/T 8939," ask which edition the certificate names. A 2018 certificate is valid today; it just won't be from 2027 onward.

What GB/T 8939-2025 actually tightens

The 2025 revision is a meaningful step up, not cosmetic. The changes fall into three buckets a buyer can actually verify.

1. Chemical safety — the biggest jump

Those four "new" lines close gaps the 2018 version simply didn't cover. For a buyer, this is the headline: a 2025-compliant pad is screened for a class of chemical risks that an 2018-only pad was never tested for.

2. Performance and comfort

• Absorption speed (pads ≥200mm full length): ≤ 60s → ≤ 50s. Faster wicking, less surface wetness.
• Rewet (回渗量): a new limit ≤ 3.0 g — directly tackles the "sits sticky and damp" complaint.
• Absorption ratio: redefined using simulated menstrual fluid — sanitary pads ≥ 4×, liners ≥ 2×.
• Back-adhesive peel strength: 100–800 mN → 100–900 mN (sticks firmly, still removes without residue).
• pH: unified to 4.0–7.5, closer to the natural acidic environment.

3. Raw materials and microbiology

The 2025 version also tightens inputs: it bars waste and recycled materials, requires fragrances to comply with GB/T 22731, and — importantly for export — mandates microbiology against GB 15979-2024: ordinary grade ≤200 CFU/g bacteria and ≤100 CFU/g fungi; disinfection grade ≤20 CFU/g bacteria and no fungi; with E. coli, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and hemolytic streptococci all prohibited.

If you already read our GB 15979-2024 piece, this is the link: the 2025 pad standard doesn't reinvent microbiology — it explicitly points at GB 15979-2024 as the test basis. The two standards move together.

What this means for an OEM / private-label buyer

You don't need to read the standard text. You need to know what to put in the spec and what to ask for on the certificate. Practical checklist:

1. 1Decide the edition by ship date. Orders shipping before 2027-01-01 can be 2018-compliant; anything you'll be producing through 2027 should be spec'd and certified to 2025 now, so you're not re-tooling mid-run.
2. 2Ask for the 2025 test report explicitly. A report dated to 2018 criteria won't show phthalates, heavy metals or azo dyes at all. If you want the 2025 screen, the report has to say 2025.
3. 3Verify the formaldehyde and fluorescence lines. These are the two that changed most dramatically (≤6 mg/kg and "not detected"). They're also the ones cheap, non-compliant product tends to fail.
4. 4Confirm microbiology against GB 15979-2024. Especially if you're selling disinfection-grade or into markets that expect it.

Frequently asked questions