Brussels, 18/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - Unless the European Parliament opposes it, EU legislation on the classification of toxic substances that are hazardous to the environment, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction, will be updated in order to take into account the most recent data on toxicity levels, public health and the environment caused by the enzyme subtilisin, which is present in detergents and used to strengthen their cleaning performance.
The EU eco-label regulation (Regulation 66/2010) stipulates that an eco-label cannot be granted for products containing this kind of substance. Certain Commission decisions contained derogations to the ban on subtilisin in order to take into account the important function of this enzyme in detergents and its high level of degradation/inactivation in wastewater treatment plants. The new assessment carried out under the REACH regulation demonstrated that this substance should be classified as being toxic to the aquatic environment as well. On this basis, the Council of the EU decided, without debate on Tuesday 17 May, not to oppose the amendment, subsequent to the three decisions (2011/263/EU, 2011/264/EU and 2012/721/EU). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)