Parliament Backs New EU Law on Toxic Chemicals
Date: 18-Nov-05
Country: FRANCE
Author: Jeff Mason
Lawmakers backed an amended bill on Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH), designed to make companies prove that substances used in everyday products such as cars, computers, detergents or paint are safe.
The properties of roughly 30,000 chemicals produced or imported in the European Union would have to be registered with a central agency. But only those of highest concern, such as carcinogens, would require testing and authorisation to be used.
The EU legislature voted 407-155 for the legislation with 41 abstentions, but it still has a long way to go to become a law. Amendments must be approved by the European Commission, and agreement must be reached among member states, possibly next month, with a likely second reading in parliament next year.
"I could imagine that it might come into force by 2007," said Guido Sacconi, the Italian lawmaker responsible for steering the bill. That would mean the full REACH system, which will be phased in, would be in place by 2018, he said.
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas calling the result "a marked improvement in the level of protection of health and the environment" over existing rules.
REACH is meant to close a loophole in EU law that does not require information on chemicals put on the market before 1981.
One key amendment was a more industry-friendly compromise that substantially reduced the number of chemicals requiring tests to obtain health and safety data.
But lawmakers also backed a measure sought by Green deputies that would force firms to substitute safe chemicals for hazardous ones when alternatives are available.
DISAPPOINTMENT ALL AROUND
The bill, one of the most complex in EU history, has had many detractors, including the United States, which is concerned about trade flows, African nations, which fear for their industries, animal rights groups and the metals sector.
Environmental and consumer activists hailed the vote on substitution for dangerous substances but criticised the decision to reduce the number of chemicals that require testing.
"A REACH adopted on this basis will not deliver the health and environment protection the public needs, as it would leave thousands of chemicals without basic toxicity data," seven groups including Greenpeace and WWF said in a joint statement.
A majority of members of the Greens parliamentary group voted against it, said Swedish member Carl Schlyter.
Europe's chemicals industry, which had sales in 2004 of 586 billion euros, supported reducing the number of substances requiring tests to ease the burden on smaller firms, which have predicted job losses and high costs to cope with the rules.
Chemicals group CEFIC said changes that put 5-year limits on on authorisations of dangerous substances would harm business.
"This will have a tremendous impact on the likelihood that companies will invest in Europe," CEFIC Executive Director Thomas Jostmann told Reuters. Substitution was a misnomer because some substances with hazardous properties -- such as those used in making amino acids -- can be controlled and create drugs that benefit human health, he contended.
Industry hopes EU governments will remedy those concerns.
Germany, Europe's largest chemicals producer with giants like BASF and Bayer, has secured a delay in a decision by member states due this month, but Britain, which holds the EU presidency, aims for political agreement this year.
