European Union chemical industry regulations

Industry is obligated to submit mandatory dossiers to the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) registry, an environmental protection regulation within the framework of the European Union (EU), and are to include a GHS aquatic hazard classification proposal. Both REACH and the GHS have significant implications for environmental protection... 

A survey is made of European Union directives regulating the use of hazardous chemicals and other industrial materials. A list is presented of carcinogenic, mutagenic and genotoxic substances covered by Directive 97/10/ CE. 

The concept of a safety case comes from the requirements of the European Union/European Community (EU/EC) Seveso Directive (82/501/EC) and, in particular, regulations that the United Kingdom and other member states used to implement that directive. United Kingdom regulations (Control of Industrial Major Accident Hazards [CIMAH], 1984 replaced by Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances [COMAH] in 1999) require that major hazardous facilities produce a safety report or safety case.64 The requirement for a safety case is initiated by a list of chemicals and a class of flammables. Like the hazard analysis approach (Section 8.1.2), experts identify the reactive hazards of the process if analysis shows that the proposed process is safe, it may be excluded from additional regulatory requirements. 

In the United States, the European Union, and many other countries, as has been mentioned earlier, there are regulations that control the use of biocides and other types of chemicals in industrial situations. Successful efforts to clean up rivers, improve working environments, and remove pollutants from being discharged cannot just be ignored or overridden. The cooling system operator often has a duty to review all water treatment chemicals, including biocides, prior to their potential use on-site. The owner may have rules in place over what biocides are or are not acceptable in the workplace. 

The REACH system was initiated to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risk that can be posed by chemicals, to enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry (a key sector for European economy), to promote alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances, and to ensure the free circulation of substances on the international market of the European Union. The regulation was formally enforced on 1 June 2007. However, according to the REACH schedule, the registration procedures started from 1 June 2008 [1, 2]. 

The RoHS procedure has now combined with European Union Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals (REACH), which is a new European Union Regulation (EC/2006/1907 of 18 December 2006). Four additional substances are listed that will be assessed as a priority, among these substances is hexabromocyclododecane, a brominated flame retardant widely used in expanded polystyrene for which no alternatives have been found so far. REACH addresses the production and use of chemical substances and their potential impacts on both human health and the environment it has been described as the most complex legislation in the Union s history and the most important in the last 20 years. It is the strictest law to date regulating chemical substances and will impact industries throughout the world. REACH entered into force in June 2007, with a phased implementation over the next decade. 

These tendencies can only be transformed into practical results if existing and future laws, regulations, and framework conditions are taken into account. The European legislative process, and the expansion of the European Union, will play important roles, in particular the chemical policies product liability laws. The particular relevance of these aspects to the adhesives industry and development of new adhesives, and the chances and risks involved, are treated in greater detail later. 

Very often, engineers, natural scientists or operational supervisors find it difficult to remain totally famihar with aU of their legal duties and responsibilities. Often, the countless regulations with which they must conform are deemed by them to be unmanageable, incomprehensible and, in many cases, not applicable. Yet, a civilized, industrialized society expects its industries and economies to comply with all legal requirements. Consequently - and as far as possible - this book attempts to provide an overview of responsibilities emanating from the major chemical regulations and directives of the European Union. 

In 2006 the REACH Regulation (1907/2006/EC) marked a revolution in the dangerous substances policy. The burden of proof for the safety (no risk to humans and environment) of substances companies put on the market now lay with industry. Substances produced within the European Union as well as imported fall under REACH. Through authorizations (annex XIV) and restrictions (annex XVII), the production, use, and import of hazardous substances such as chemicals and/or present in textile articles are limited. Dimethyl fumarate, tris(2,3 dibromopropyl) phosphate, tris (aziridinyl) phosphine oxide, organotin compounds, pentachlorophenol, nonylphenol and nonylphenolethoxylate, certain phthalates are examples of such hazardous substances for which restrictions are enacted. HBCD, phthalates such as DEHP, DBP, DIBP, BBP, and the like fall under the authorization requirement. 

Environmental laws regulating the disposal of hazardous chemical waste may also be informed by the LCA concept. The Waste in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive in the European Union is closely linked to the RoHS directive restricting the use of specific chemicals in electrical products. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in the United States complanents other environmental laws that regulate toxic chemicals by regulating the disposal of the hazardous chemical by-products of industrial processes. A significant difference between RCRA and WEEE is that WEEE is linked to pollution prevention laws such as RoHS, while RCRA is more of an end of the pipe law. 

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