European Parliament Passes Major Chemical Registration and Testing Law

From: http://www.grist.org Nov. 17, 2005

Reachy Keen

European Parliament passes major chemical registration and testing law The European Parliament has passed the landmark Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals legislation, widely known to wonks as REACH. If approved by the national governments of the European Union, it will turn traditional regulation on its head, putting the burden of proof on manufacturers -- rather than on individuals, groups, or governments -- to show that many substances used in consumer products are safe. The "substitution principle" was also approved, requiring companies to replace hazardous chemicals with safer ones wherever possible. Italian minister Guido Sacconi, a major REACH proponent, says the vote gives Europe the "strongest protection in the world" from harmful chemicals. But much to the dismay of greens, the parliament made a compromise with industry that may ultimately exempt about two-thirds of the original list of 30,000 chemicals from testing.

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Bloomberg News Service, 17 Nov 2005
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aORj_PTxDmoo&refer=europ
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EU Parliament Backs Plan to Raise Chemical-Safety Standards
Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The European Parliament endorsed stricter chemical-safety standards, bringing the European Union closer to new rules that may cost companies from BASF AG to Anglo American Plc billions of euros and hit trade worldwide.

The EU parliament today voted to require manufacturers and importers to register chemicals in Europe's $700 billion market. Businesses would also need to test substances and get authorization for the most dangerous ones under the law aimed at curbing maladies such as allergies and bladder cancer.

``There has been a big void on chemical information and something needs to happen to control substances,'' said Anders Wijkman, a Swedish member of the Strasbourg, France-based EU assembly. The 25-nation bloc's national governments must still endorse the measures and a final accord may not come for a year.

EU regulators proposed an overhaul of chemical legislation two years ago, saying more product data would prevent as many as 4,500 deaths a year and cut health-care spending by at least 50 billion euros ($58 billion) over three decades. The European Commission forecasts its original proposal would cost producers and users up to 5.2 billion euros over 15 years. European chemical companies said the new law would be too bureaucratic and costly, threatening their one third share of the global market. More industries including mining, metals and paper joined the fight, complaining the legislation would burden them by treating their raw materials as chemicals.

Germany, Europe's biggest chemical-producing nation and home of BASF, the world's largest chemical manufacturer, led a political drive to scale back the measures. Backed by the U.K. and France, the German government warned of threats to European economic growth that has trailed the U.S. pace in 12 of the past 13 years.

Significant Burden

``The burden of the new rules will be significant,'' said Rene van Sloten, director of competitiveness at the Brussels- based European Chemical Industry Council. ``If you look at the state of the European economy, can Europe afford this? I don't think so.''

The shortcomings of the current system, which places the onus of evaluation on governments, kept the planned overhaul alive. Only about a third of 140 potentially high-risk substances on the market before 1981 underwent full assessments and 70 percent of newer, high-volume chemicals tested proved to be dangerous, according to the commission. ``It is a mystery that for so long companies have been able to introduce chemicals without knowing the consequences,'' said Wijkman, a member of the European People's Party, the EU parliament's biggest group. The assembly endorsed the commission's proposal for manufacturers and importers to register about 30 percent of the 100,000 chemicals used in Europe with a new agency over 11 years. All chemicals produced or imported in volumes of more than 1 metric ton a year would be covered, as the commission proposed. The EU parliament also endorsed the commission's idea of increasing testing obligations as the volume of substances produced or imported increases. The assembly eased some of the proposed registration and testing requirements. It decided to let available data be used for registering chemicals between 1 ton and 10 tons, excluded some raw materials from registration and cut tests for chemicals between 10 tons and 100 tons. Britain, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, last month produced a compromise proposal that aims to ease the burden in similar ways as the parliament.

U.K. Plan

The U.K. plan would also cut registration and testing requirements for substances under 100 tons and exempt substances such as minerals and ores from registration. The European mining industry says this concession is inadequate. It wants an exemption from the whole law including the authorization procedure foreseen for the most hazardous substances. ``The vast majority of our products aren't going to the consumer,'' said Johannes Drielsma, environment manager at the Brussels-based European Association of Mining Industries representing such companies as the U.K.'s Anglo American and Sweden's LKAB. ``The authorization step would be the biggest workload and would raise disproportionate concerns about the nature of our products.'' Non-EU mining nations including South Africa and Australia oppose the new rules, saying international trade would be hurt. More than half of sub-Saharan Africa's $12 billion in mineral exports go to Europe. ``Sub-Saharan Africa's mineral exports to the EU may not grow as a result,'' the Chamber of Mines of South Africa said in a June 2005 report. ``The potential cost of revenues forfeited could be about $2.5 billion annually.'' The American Chamber of Commerce to the EU says the rules could prompt European importers of goods that contain chemicals to shun foreign products in favor of domestic ones to avoid registration.
Strong Incentive

``The draft law provides a strong incentive for EU manufacturers of articles to source substances in the EU,'' said Pierre-Yves Le Borgn', director of European government relations for U.S. chemical maker Rohm and Haas Co. ``This could give rise to trade disputes.'' Britain scrapped plans for a Nov. 28-29 decision on the law by EU governments, signaling the sensitivity of the rules for the bloc's nations. ``Nobody wants to see the European chemical industry brought to its knees,''

U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the EU parliament yesterday. Britain may seek an accord among EU nations in December after Germany's new government is in place. Any differences between national governments and the bloc's parliament would have to be settled in a procedure that could last another year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at jstearns2@bloomberg.net