How does the European Commission manage the risks associated with dangerous chemical substances, asked the European Ombudsman in January 2023, before opening the file on 8 June of that year. In the meantime, the issue finally led to a meeting with the European Commission, which the Ombudsman published on Monday 26 August.
A public consultation on the transparency of the EU’s environmental decision-making process prompted the European Ombudsman to make the following observation: delays are accumulating in the implementation of the REACH regulation.
One environmental organisation, in particular, questioned why “the median time for the Commission to introduce restrictions was 19 months, to include substances on the authorisation list was 23 months, and to decide on individual authorisations was 16 months”, according to the letter sent by the European Ombudsman, in the person of Emily O’Reilly, to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on 8 June 2023, the length of which was a matter of concern.
The Commission’s response to the Ombudsman can be summed up in a simple observation: the authorisation system is overloaded. With 250 applications for authorisation of substances currently pending, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has estimated that it can adopt “around 60 opinions per year”.
The European Commission has made it clear that it cannot prevent Member States from proposing restrictions under the REACH regulation. These requests could lead to “an overlap in the regulatory tools” if ECHA were to conduct an authorisation process for the same substance. Incomplete applications for authorisation of substances are also singled out, because they lengthen the process, particularly when they do not contain a plan for substituting (even in the future) the use of the substance concerned.
On the transparency of decisions. The European Commission considered that the current processes were sufficiently transparent, explaining to the Ombudsman that the agendas for the three or four forthcoming meetings of the REACH committee are systematically made public. In addition, the World Trade Organization has been informed of the Commission’s draft measures, such as restrictions and inclusions in Annex XIV. The Commission added that ECHA’s opinions and recommendations are also accessible to the public.
To see the European Ombudsman’s inspection report: https://aeur.eu/f/d8k (Original version in French by Florent Servia)