Liquid cleaner composition for removing polymeric materials from a surface

A process for preparing a flexographic relief printing plate comprising a photopolymerized relief layer having a faultless printing surface, from a photosensitive recording element comprising a dimensionally stable base and a photopolymerizable relief-forming recording layer containing, as the binder, at least one elastomer which is soluble or swellable in organic solvents, at least one olefinically unsaturated photopolymerizable monomer which is compatible with the said elastomer, and at least one photopolymerization initiator, the said process comprising the steps of

• (i) irradiating the said photopolymerizable relief-forming recording layer imagewise with actinic light, thus photopolymerizing its exposed areas, and
• (ii) washing out the non-irradiated and thus non-photopolymerized areas of the imagewise irradiated relief-forming recording layer with a liquid cleaner composition, the said liquid cleaner composition being an emulsion of the water-in-oil type comprising an aqueous phase finely dispersed in a continuous phase selected from the group consisting of nonflammable, fire-retardant, high-boiling, and fire-retardant and high-boiling organic phases, the volume ratio of the finely dispersed aqueous phase to the continuous organic phase being in the range of from 90:10 to 10:90, thus obtaining the said photopolymerized relief layer and the used liquid cleaner composition, and
• (iii) washing the surface of the photopolymerized relief layer with the pure organic phase in order to remove water droplets after having carried out the process step (ii).