Harney concerned new chemical rules could hit industry

A RADICAL reform of Europe’s chemicals regulations was in danger of making the industry less competitive than in the US and Japan, Tánaiste Mary Harney said yesterday.

The proposals drawn up by the European Commission were considered by national governments yesterday in Brussels for the first time.

However, the draft has been criticised by health and environment groups such as Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund as being watered down to accommodate industry rather than protecting consumers.

Ms Harney, responsible for setting up the Environmental Protection Agency in Ireland, said the proposed regulations would have to be rigorously tested to assess their impact on the industry.

“We want industry to be strong in Europe and have to operate with its hands tied behind its back. If you have regulations that are out of synch with the rest of the world you put the industry at a disadvantage and we need to keep business in Europe,” she said.

She welcomed the revised regulations that exempted about 30,000 chemicals, including polymers, and includes only chemicals produced in quantities of over 10 tonnes. This, according to the commission, reduced the cost of the new rules to industry from €10bn over 11 years to €2.8bn.

However Ms Harney said she believed the assessment of the impact of the proposed new testing and registration of chemicals was not rigorous enough.

She believed the cost to the industry and in particular the indirect costs could be much greater.

“I am not saying there should be no cost to industry but we need to be practical and realistic, especially on the effects on the down stream user and we must not place the industry at a disadvantage in relation to Japan and Asia. There is no point in introducing a lot of regulations for no apparent benefits.”

The commission, quoting World Bank statistics, said the testing and regulating of the chemicals used in every day products from shampoos to carpets would save 4,500 lives a year from diseases caused by chemicals and save €50bn over 30 years.

Ms Harney said she would like to see these figures backed up with more stringent facts. She denied that the Irish Government was putting emphasis on the profitability of industry rather than the health of its citizens.

“Public health always has to come first,” she said.

The draft regulations, called REACH, will come before the next Competitiveness Council of Ministers at the end of the month after economic experts from member states meet to clarify the financial costs.