EU CHEMICALS LEGISLATION

This presentation discusses current EU chemical legislation and examines the shortcomings of some of the regulations in place with respect to dangerous chemicals. The Commission White Paper is discussed, and in particular, the REACH system which involves the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals used in food-contact applications. The impact of the REACH system on food-contact plastic manufacturers is examined, with respect to suppliers of monomers and additives, plastic manufacturers, converters and packagers. 

Existing substanees and new substances are still being treated differently by applicable regulations even 25 years after introduction of the EU chemicals legislation. 

Several Commission DGs as well as the Joint Research Center and the European Chemicals Bureau are actors involved in the EU chemical legislation, see Figure 2.5. 

Chemical Reaction (2007a) Navigating REACH an activist s guide to using and improving the new EU chemicals legislation, November, http //www.chemicalreaction.org/... 

The Toxic Substance Control Act is a nearly perfect realisation of the old approaches and is clearly outdated. The EPA has been somewhat successful with stimulating voluntary action, but that is far from sufficient, judging from the results in relation to expectations. Previous EU chemicals legislation was permeated by many of the same problems, and it is obvious that the designers of REACH have learned important lessons from the past.33... 

Figure 5.1 Lack of progress under current EU chemicals legislation since 1993...

EU (European Union), The New EU Chemicals Legislation - Reach, 2004. Available at http //europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/reach/overview.htm (accessed October 2004). 

CLEEN is a network of national chemicals inspectorates that coordinates and improves the enforcement of EU chemicals legislation (enforcement is the responsibility of the Member States). Is central task is the exchange of information between national enforcement authorities and it sets, in collaboration with the Member States, priorities for enforcement projects in the EU. 

European Commission, 2006. REACH Commission Welcomes European Parliament Vote on New EU Chemicals Legislation, 13 December (IP/06/ 1799). EC, Brussels. 

Furthermore, China has recently implemented a chemical legislation similar to EU REACH, and the legislation is sometimes called the China REACH. The China REACH came into force in 15 October 2010. 

Current EU Chemical Control Legislation for New and Existing Chemicals... 

By way of introduction, the most important project results are outlined here. Initially, the project focuses on the main issues, i.e. the abihty to be iimovative and the direction of innovation, and also on the current reforms in chemicals legislation taking place at EU level. After that, selected results are highhghted and explained. 

REACH is an acronym comprising the most important elements of the new chemicals legislation at EU level Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals, cf http //europa.eu.int/comm/enterpiise/chemicals/chempol/whitepaper/reach.htm Cf Grupp et al 2002, Dominguez-Lacasa et al 2003... 

By way of reaction to the evident deficit in implementing the differentiated chemicals/hazardous substance legislation in Europe, the authorities responsible in all EU Member States set up the CLEEN network (Chemical Legislation En-... 

Important conseqnences for the formnlation of the new chemicals legislation on EU level (REACH) and evalnation of its possible effects on innovation are created from these correlations ... 

Although REACH involved a revision of most EU chemical control legislation, one existing directive that was not incorporated into REACH is the Solvent Emissions Directive [26]. The aim of this Directive is to prevent or reduce the effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the environment (mainly via the atmosphere) and reduce the potential human health risks from solvent-based activities. Most of the provisions of the directive relate to emission and inventory control, but one part of the directive has potentially negative consequences in terms of Green Chemistry. 

This step is difficult to illustrate, because the process is unprecedented. However, it can be imagined that the validated and endorsed QSAR would be published in an official document, such as the EU TGD on risk assessment (European Economic Community, 1996), or possibly in an instrument of the chemicals legislation (in the EU, this might be Annex V to Directive 67/548/EEC). 

REACH came about as a result of the growing awareness that the former legislative framework governing chemical substances in the EU, which consisted of a patchwork of many different directives and regulations that had developed over the years, contained several serious flaws that risked jeopardising human health and the environment and hampering the competitiveness of the EU chemical industry. 

End November 2006, the number of ICCA substances evaluated and accepted by OECD the Screening information Data Set (SIDS) Initial Assessment Meetings (SIAMs) was 465 but in November 2007 it was close to 600. As the EU s new chemicals legislation, Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances (REACH) entered into force in June 2007, there is some concern about competition at European level with REACH requirements but it seems now that the data collected within the HPV programme would be recognised under REACH. 

Directive 2004/10/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 on the Harmonization of Laws, Regulations and Administrative Provisions Relating to the Application of the Principles of Good Laboratory Practice and the Verification of Their Applications for Tests on Chemical Substances, http // ec.europa.eu/enterprise/chemicals/legislation/glp/directives en.htm... 

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