Brussels, 06/04/2005 (Agence Europe) - With the Parliament's work on the proposed REACH regulation on chemical products in full swing, the European Commission is doing all in its power to help remove the glitches that could make the new legislation unworkable, but it has no plans to withdraw the proposal to re-write it fully before Parliament takes position at first reading (in the autumn). Stavros Dimas, the European Commissioner for the Environment, made this quite clear at a speech in Brussels on Monday, at the annual meeting of the presidents of the CDU/CSU groups of the Bundestag and the parliaments of the German Länder, with the EPP-ED group at the European Parliament.
“There was speculation that the Commission plans to withdraw the proposal to rewrite it and resubmit it to the legislators. This speculation was unfounded. As you know, we are not going to do that”, said Mr Dimas, giving short shrift to the idea forwarded by Günter Verheugen, his colleague for Industry, at the hearing on REACH organised by the European Parliament earlier this year (see EUROPE 8870). He added: “Having said that, I should stress that the Commission is of course sensitive to the wishes of the legislators- the Council and the Parliament. We will try as far as possible to accommodate the amendments that the European Parliament will propose in the first reading, provided they do not jeopardise the fundamental aims of REACH. These are: a high level of protection for human health and the environment, and a workable and transparent framework that allows companies to thrive and provides for safe and secure jobs”.
Stavros Dimas also said that the Commission was fully aware of the challenges REACH poses for small and medium-sized enterprises which do not have the administrative structure or, sometimes, the skills needed to assess the risks of the chemicals they deal with. For this reason, the Commission is working on guideline documents and other information instruments to help SMEs to implement the legislation when the time comes.
According to the Commissioner, the amendments planned by the European Parliament come under three different categories: 1) amendments aimed at increasing levels of protection for health and the environment (by greater requirements for information on substances produced or imported in small volumes, and bringing in a general duty of care to prevent harm to the environment and health). The spirit behind these amendments was present in the first versions of the REACH proposal, but were sacrificed in 2003 to bring costs down, limit red tape and increase legal safety; 2) the amendments to reduce the burden on industry (requirement for a simplified system for certain substances, or exemptions for some of them, calls for a priority order based on risk, etc); 3) amendments which “could be regarded neutral from the environmental and competitiveness perspectives”, and which call, amongst other things, for a reinforced role for the European Chemicals Agency, the application of the “one substance, one registration” principle, or limits on animal testing.
“I share the visionary aims of the first category of amendments, but also understand the economic considerations that lie behind the second category, we do not really create unnecessary problems to the very strong EU chemical industry”, said Stavros Dimas. Pointing out that the Commission has taken great pains to design “a balanced, sustainable system, which is capable of fostering growth and innovation”, the Commissioner voiced his satisfaction that the Parliament and Council both recognised the need for REACH to resolve “the failure of the current legislation to provide an adequate level of protection for health and the environment”, and that they are working “constructively” to improve upon the proposal.