Current EU Regulatory Framework for Chemicals

Many different direchves and regulahons set up the current EU regulatory framework for chemicals. The most important ones are mentioned below. 

In 1967, Council Directive 67/548/EEC (EEC 1967), the so-called 67-Directive, was adopted in order to approximate the national provisions relating to dangerous substances. The Directive introduced common provisions on the classification of dangerous chemical substances to ensure the establishment of a common market in the field of such substances and a high level of protection of human health. The 67-Directive is permanently updated to take account of the scientific and technical progress in the field of dangerous substances. Until today it has been amended 9 times and adapted to technical progress 29 times. 

Protecting the environment from the effects of dangerous chemical substances was introduced with the 6th amendment, adopted in 1979 (EEC 1979). 

The 6th amendment also introduced a notification system for new substances (Section 2.4.1.5) and, consequently, required the establishment of the list of existing substances called EINECS (Section 2.4.1.4). 

The 7th amendment (EEC 1992) essentially required that the principles of risk assessment for new substances be laid down (Section 2.4.1.5). 

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