Chemical Policy Reform in EU
(Updated on 3 October 2007)
Chemicals, found in nearly every article and product around us, play an important role in modern society. However, some of them have an unwelcome tendency to show up in the wrong place at the wrong time. They spread from the products we use into our bodies as well as to remote places where they have not been used. They contaminate fish, rendering it unhealthy to eat. They turn breast-milk into a carrier of toxics, increase the risk of cancer at our work-place, contribute to escalating health-costs for society in the form of increased cases of allergies, work-days lost and expensive clean-up operations for example. Bearing this in mind, it is striking how little we know about these chemicals.
The gathering of knowledge about chemicals, their use and marketing has up until now been poorly regulated. Attempts have been made by the European Community, now the European Union, to somehow increase the knowledge about the chemicals we use, and to restrict the use of chemicals that pose a risk to human health and the environment. The result to date is a complicated, inefficient and unworkable system, consisting of a patchwork of some 40 directives and regulations.
Eight years ago, in 1998, a first step was taken by the Ministers of Environment of the Member States of the European Union towards a new system to better regulate chemicals. As a result, the European Commission adopted the “White Paper on a Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy” in February 2001. The European Union was preparing for a major shift in chemicals regulation. In October 2003 the Commission presented its final regulatory proposal for a new EU chemicals regime.
The new system is called REACH: Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals. The requirements, including the testing requirements, of the system depend on the proven or suspected hazardous properties, uses, exposure and volume of chemicals produced or imported in the European Union. According to the system, all chemicals produced or imported in volumes over 1 tonne per year should be registered in a central database. At higher production volumes, special attention would be given to the long-term and chronic effects.
REACH is designed to ensure that chemicals are safe for human health and the environment. At the same time, REACH is intended to enhance economic efficiency. The goal is a win-win situation that offers benefits for health, the environment, and business. In this attempt at political efficiency, as around forty legislative instruments will be replaced by one.
Few, if any, legislative proposals in the EU have created so much passionate debate and intensive lobbying from industry and other interest groups. The “first reading” debate reached a crescendo in the autumn of 2005, with the European Parliament casting their first vote on the proposal in late November, and member state governments in the Council following with their joint opinion a few weeks later. The Council opinion constituted the end of the first reading of the Commission proposal. The “second reading” began in mid 2006, when both the Parliament and Council commenced a three month long re-examination of the proposal. (Please see the section entitled “Co-Decision in the EU” under the tab “What’s Happened So Far” for an explanation of the legislative procedure).
A cornerstone of REACH is to increase the knowledge of chemicals. Currently, health and environmental data is deficient for nine out of ten chemicals in use. This makes it in practice impossible to find the ones that cause serious threats to health and wildlife, at least before damage is evident. To bridge the data gap, REACH requires a base set of data to be submitted for all chemicals produced in annual amounts above 1 tonne (around 30 000 chemicals). Tests must to be conducted to find out if the substance is hazardous, and this information will then be used to decide on further measures to prevent damage. If the required data for a chemical is not presented, the substance will not be allowed in EU, in line with a "No data - No market" principle. And the most dangerous ones ("substances of very high concern" in REACH terminology) will only be allowed for certain approved uses – the chemical producers and industries using those chemicals will have to apply for permission for their use through an authorisation procedure.
Downloads
Download the REACH text (pdf, 1,7 MB)
Facts and controversial issues 2006 (ppt, 1,26MB)
Report:
Implications of
REACH for developing countries
(pdf, 1MB)
Les implications de REACH pour
les pays en développement
(pdf, 1,4MB)