Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Norway are calling for an EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability that is ambitious and responds to citizens' health and environmental concerns.
In a joint letter sent on 18 June to the European Commission and made public on 24 June by the Dutch authorities, they set out the basic ingredients of a strategy compatible with the European Green Deal's Zero Pollution Ambition.
As a reminder, a consultation was open until 20 June on this strategy, which the Commission intends to present in the third quarter of 2020 (see EUROPE 12501/10, EUROPE 12484/13).
The ten countries call for the future strategy to be based on the political guidelines issued by the Environment Council of the EU in June 2019. The guidelines call on the Commission to provide the EU with an ambitious and comprehensive strategy to reduce citizens' exposure to hazardous chemicals, including PFAS and endocrine disruptors (see EUROPE 12283/10).
The strategy should also meet the commitments made in the 7th Environmental Action Programme (EAP). Additional measures should be included in the 8th EAP, according to the signatories.
For them, the strategy should be complementary to the other major initiatives of the European Green Deal, including the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Farm to Fork strategy, the Strategy for Biodiversity, the Prevention Cancer Plan and Pharmaceutical strategy. In addition, it should also address the challenges identified in the ‘fitness checks’ of both the REACH regulation and all other relevant chemicals legislation.
Among the recommendations are: - elimination of substances of concern; - streamlining the interface between chemicals, products and waste legislation; - including concepts of ‘safe-by-design’ and Green Chemistry in chemicals innovation; - clean recycling; - prevention-targeted research and monitoring.
To read the letter: https://bit.ly/31e7LtC (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)