Germany Seeks to Delay Key EU Chemicals Bill
Date: 07-Nov-05
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Jeff Mason
Germany, which has Europe's biggest chemicals industry, told EU partners its new government would barely have taken office and would not be in a position to decide on such complex and sensitive legislation, diplomats reported.
France and some other states supported Berlin's request for a postponement, making it more difficult for Britain, which holds the EU presidency, to achieve a political deal at the last meeting of EU competitiveness ministers this year on Nov. 28 and 29.
"It wasn't good news," one diplomat said. "No presidency would try to outvote Germany on this."
But the environmental group WWF urged Britain "to have the backbone not to buckle" under German pressure.
In an effort to win agreement, London earlier offered a new compromise that would further reduce the number of chemicals required to be tested for registration under the law, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
A previous compromise draft on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) legislation had already reduced the number of low-tonnage chemicals for which companies would have to provide safety data.
The latest proposal sets additional criteria to trigger compulsory testing of substances that companies make or import in volumes of 1 to 10 tonnes a year. That amounts to 17,500 chemicals, or roughly two-thirds of the total covered by REACH.
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Substances must be highly dispersive -- coming into contact with people and the environment -- and likely to be dangerous by being, for example, flammable, corrosive or explosive.
"Our original proposal would have caught about 10 percent of the substances in the 1 to 10 tonne bracket, and we expect that fewer, but not substantially fewer, substances will be caught by the revised criteria in the new compromise text," said a British official familiar with the text.
A Commission study of the previous UK draft, seen by Reuters, showed that about 47 percent of the low-tonnage chemicals would have required testing under the first proposal.
The move is an attempt to ease the burden REACH poses to small and medium-sized businesses.
But environmentalists see it as a further weakening of legislation meant to protect human health and the environment.
REACH was designed to shield the public from the adverse effects of chemicals found in a wide range of products such as paint, detergents, cars and computers.
Chemical makers would have to register the properties of substances with a central EU database. Those of highest concern, such as carcinogens, would undergo a risk assessment, and the most dangerous chemicals would require authorisation to be used.
The European Parliament is due to vote on the bill this month, and Britain had wanted a deal as one of the key achievements of its six-month presidency.
Other changes include what the British source called a clarification of rules that allow the waiving of requirements for chemicals above 10 tonnes, which critics say would give companies more excuses not to perform safety tests.
Chemical group CEFIC said though the text had made some improvements, it still opposed time limits being placed on authorisations for chemicals that are deemed dangerous.
"If the substance is safely managed, there should be an authorisation with no time limits," CEFIC Executive Director Thomas Jostmann told Reuters.
"Many of these substances will disappear from the European market, because nobody will invest (in them) anymore."
