EU CHEMICALS POLICY

Commission s consultation on a new EU chemical policy (REACH), 1 July 2003 See the PRIO tool provided by KEMI at http //www.kemi.se/templates/... 

This book also covers the connection between the new EU Chemicals Policy (REACH) and Chemical Leasing. Within REACH, cooperation, networking and communication based on documentation, evaluation and minimisation of hazards is indispensable. The new business model can serve as a basis for this intensified dialogue and cooperation. 

All these new service-oriented chemical business models require a close co-operation between the provider and the user of the chemical. Therefore, the potential of these business models has also to be seen in connection with the new EU Chemicals Policy (REACH), which will require a new relationship between provider and user and the conventional paradigm supplier here - customer there" will hardly be crowned with commercial success."... 

Eight discussion events with representatives of the political, industrial, and societal spheres in respect of the EU chemicals policy... 

DiGangi, J. (2003) US intervention in EU chemical policy. Environmental Health Fund, Chicago. http //www.cleanproduction.org/library/USIntervention.pdf. Cited 17 June 2010. 

In the following, the history of the precautionary principle within the EU and its member states will be briefly described, followed by a concise overview of EU chemicals policy and a more detailed description and analysis of the REACH regulation and its relation to the precautionary principle. 

Apart from the incentive provided by the authorisation process for companies to avoid a small number of substances, EU chemicals policy does not contain many aspects of chemical risk prevention. 

F.M. Christensen, J.H.M. de Bruijn, B.G. Hansen, S.J. Munn, B. Sokull-Kluttgen and F. Pedersen, New Assessment Tools under the New EU Chemicals Policy, Greener Management International, 2003, 41, 5. 

The third and final aspect of the precautionary principle refers to the burden of proof for improving damage to health and the environment. It is typically regulators who are responsible for conducting risk assessments and ensuring a high level of health and environmental protection. The new EU chemicals policy seeks to reverse the burden of proof , requiring companies to do risk assessments and thereby demonstrate safe use for all chemicals (Section 2.4.1). 

The most well-known legal principle in the field of chemicals policy is the Precautionary Principle it is so well-known that it hardly requires any further introduction here. It was introduced into EU environmental law through the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The principle s value as a guide for decision making in different policy areas is often questioned, and some analyses of its impact on EU chemicals policy indicate that its influence is not that significant (Heyvaert, 2006), though it can be hard to determine exactly how influential the principle has been for important law cases from the Court of Justice of the European Communities. 

In this era of international cooperation, there is a need for progressive national policies as well. Successful national policies will eventually influence the EU and international policies. In the EU chemicals policy, there is a drive toward harmonized legal standards. This means that the EU Member States are restricted in their national lawmaking, and should therefore rely also on other instruments, such as procurement policies, in order to drive innovations and promote chemical substitution. 

The next few years offer an unprecedented opportunity for the chemical industry to acknowledge the need for more transparency and accountability for urgently supplying the much needed environmental and health data on chemicals they market. It also provides an opportunity to actively promote green chemistry, safer substitutes and innovation in the development of chemicals that are not persistent and do not bioaccumulate in living systems. The truth will reveal itself by the time the new EU chemical policy is adopted - in whatever form it has been shaped into by industry lobby and public campaigns. That will be the time to conduct a new opinion poll and see if public confidence has indeed risen. 

J. DiGangi, US Intervention in EU Chemical Policy, Environmental Health Fund, Jamaica Plain, MA, September 2003. 

D. Ditz, EU Chemicals Policy Offers a Model for Managing Risk. World Wildlife Fund, Washington, DC, April 4, 2003. 

European Union Directives require the evaluation and control of the risks to the environment and/or public health of both existing and new chemicals. The European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) located in Ispra, Italy provides technical support for the development of EU chemicals policy and its website34 provides information on both existing and new chemicals. The Existing Substances Regulation35 provides for the evaluation and control of risks posed by existing chemicals in four steps ... 

AISE EU Chemicals Policy/REACH. http //www.aise-net.org/go withsuh.php pid=48 topics=15. 

White paper on a strategy for a future EU Chemicals Policy... 

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