EU environment ministers approve new rules on chemicals

The European Union today gave its final approval to far-reaching EU rules governing the multibillion-euro chemicals industry.

The law, which is expected to come into force next year, will ban some of the most dangerous chemicals from the 25-nation bloc. At least 30,000 other substances used in products ranging from detergents to toys will have to be registered in a central EU database.

The European Parliament voted for the bill last week and EU environment ministers completed the approval process in Brussels today.

Finland’s Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU presidency, is to sign the bill – known as Reach, for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals – into law later today at the European Parliament.

Getting agreement on the legislation took years of haggling marked by intense lobbying by the chemicals industry and environmental groups.

The law, a compromise balancing health and environmental concerns against fears that excessive red tape would stifle business, puts the burden of proof on companies to show that industrial chemicals and substances used in everyday products are safe.

The chemicals industry is critical of the law, arguing the registration of products they make involve excessive costs and bureaucracy.

The EU will also have to convince its major trade partners that the legislation does not violate world trade rules.

Under the rules, affecting both locally produced chemicals and imports, companies will have to register the properties of chemicals with an agency to be set up in Helsinki, Finland, that will have powers to ban those presenting significant health threats.

Companies will be required to gradually replace the most high-risk chemicals with safer alternatives when possible. If no alternative exists, producers will have to submit a plan to develop one.

The chemicals industry will pay for all the tests, while the EU will pay for running the agency.

Some 13,000 substances, deemed to pose some sort of health or safety risk, will face automatic testing. Almost all tests will be waived for little-used chemicals of which only 1 to 10 tonnes are produced or imported into the EU annually.

Reach replaces some 40 different EU rules currently governing the use of chemicals in the EU. In the past, companies could sell almost any chemical without being required to provide detailed health and safety information.

The compromise has also been criticised by environmentalists, who say it will allow dangerous chemicals to enter the market through loopholes.