On Wednesday 14 October, the European Commission will present its long-awaited ‘Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability’ to set the framework for the European Green Deal’s ‘zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment’ in a major industrial sector of the economy which must also protect citizens’ health and the environment (see EUROPE 12555/9).
The stakes are high. Even though the EU already has the strictest legislation in the world, with its REACH regulation, and some chemicals are essential for the green transition, hazardous properties to human health still account for 74% of total chemical production in Europe - a percentage unchanged since 2004 - and global chemical production is expected to double by 2030.
Protection and innovation. The EU strategy will seek to strike the right balance in upholding a high level of health and environmental protection while promoting innovation and competitiveness of the European chemicals industry, which will be encouraged to develop safe and sustainable alternative products and materials.
Simplification. It will propose to strengthen and simplify the regulatory framework to increase its coherence and the level of protection, in particular against exposure to endocrine disrupters, combinations of chemical products, hazardous chemicals present in products, including imported ones, and very persistent chemicals.
A generic approach to risk management should ensure that all hazardous substances with the same risks are assessed at the same time.
All measures that will implement this strategy will be subject to an impact assessment, as requested by the industry.
Confident environmentalists. This initiative is a unique opportunity to set the conditions for a competitive chemical industry, free of toxic substances, and for the European chemical industry to take a sustainable turn, stressed German Greens/EFA MEPs, on Tuesday 13 October, via videoconference.
“The future strategy is an industrial policy in the best sense of the word. This is a turning point for nature and health protection and the future of the chemical industry," said Sven Giegold. According to him, it will allow “good risk management so that endocrine disruptors disappear from everyday life and PFAS substances, which can accumulate (in the body and the environment - Editor's note), do not end up in the environment”. And the strategy will ensure that imported products meet the same requirements as those produced in the EU.
Referring to the shortcomings in the implementation of the REACH regulation, Jutta Paulus said she hoped that in the future any chemical substance for which data are missing will be withdrawn from the market. According to the Commission, REACH should cover plastics, take into account climate damage and contain a clear definition of sustainability, as well as a harmonised definition of essential uses.
This last demand was also made by ten Environment Ministers who, on 1 October, wrote an open letter to the Commission calling for an ambitious long-term strategy. In particular, they stressed that “chemicals of concern should only be allowed when their use is considered essential for society” (see EUROPE 12572/12).
Asked why the Greens are so optimistic, Ms Paulus referred to the promises made by Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, “the close contacts with the Commission's environment services and the European Environment Agency, which speaks of a step forward”.
While environmental and health NGOs had expressed fears as early as July that the Commission's industry services (DG Grow) would water down the strategy, they too were confident on Tuesday.
Hope for NGOs. The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) says it understands that the Commission is planning to significantly increase the use of the Rapid Alert System for Toxic Chemicals - the generic risk management approach (applicable to ‘CMR’ substances in toys, pesticides and biocides), extending it to food contact materials, food additives and childcare articles, but also to endocrine disrupters (see EUROPE 12572/13). Such a breakthrough, if confirmed, will be welcomed.
But “workers have been largely ignored, despite the fact that cancer is the leading cause of work-related death and most are caused by only ten substances”, the NGO network said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)