Brussels, 12/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Commission should adopt, this Tuesday in Strasbourg, its White Paper on the new Community policy for chemical products, centred on environmental protection and the protection of public health against the substances for which their are often unknown dangers, even if they are already on the market. Drafted on the joint initiative of Commissioners Margot Wallström (Environment) and Erkki Liikanen (Industry), this document, awaited for a long time, is expected to remedy the failings observed in the present legislation through an integrated and coherent approach which (1) takes into account environmental interests and public health, (2) increase the responsibility of industry by determining for which products additional information is required and which (3) restores citizens confidence in these products. The aim followed by the Commission is two fold: institute in the Union an single system for the assessment of risks for health and the environment of all chemical products susceptible of being markets, and to increase the responsibility of producers through an inverting of the burden of proof: instead of the Union having to prove that a substance in dangerous to ban it, it will be for industry to bring the proof that these products are safe to be legally marketed. The new system will introduce a register of products manufactured in quantities above one tonne. A risk assessment will be required for all substances produced in quantities above 100 tonnes, but for the most dangerous products, the reference tonnage will be less. This system will replace the double system presently enforced - that applicable to chemical products marketed before 1981 (around 1,100 products said "existing products") which requires that all public authorities provide proof of their danger to ban their marketing - and that applicable for all chemical products marketed after this date (said "new products") which requires the provision of information on the very detailed assessment of the dangers for products manufactured in quantities above ten kilos. Out of the 3,000 products answering this definition of "new products", only four have been so, to this day, completely assessed, for the 1,100 others, the information concerning their potential dangers are severely lacking. From where arises the need for a more effective system.
The White Paper consigns the results of the in-depth assessment work to the Community legislative arsenal concerning existing chemical products, the problems presented by persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances, chemical preparations, the resources and structures necessary to create a more effective authorisation system.