UK food sector examines impact of REACH
discuss the impact that the EU's proposed chemicals regulation will
have on the industry.
The one day workshop is being held by the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) to coincide with the European Parliament's second reading of the controversial draft EU law requiring the registration and authorisation of chemicals (REACH).
The FDF says the regulation will impact members as downstream users of a wide variety ofchemical substances such as cleaning materials, lubricants, sterilisers and adhesives.
An expert panel of speakers will provide an overview of the REACH regulation,expected to enter into force in early 2007. The workshop is primarily for FDF members but nonmembers are also welcome to attend.
:The day will be of most benefit to those with responsibility forregulatory/legislative affairs, technical management, procurement of the chemicals used withincompany sites, environmental management, on-site engineering or health and safety," the FDFstated.
The EU's Council of Ministers approved the draft text for Reach in December 2005. The draftlegislation has now been sent back to the EU Parliament for a second reading, to be held on 26October.
The legislation relates to chemicals introduced before 1981 when a more rigorous evaluation andtesting of such substances became compulsory in the EU. The legislation would bring such chemicalsunder regulatory control and make manufacturers perform the tests and seek regulatory approval. Theywould also have to substitute a chemical that has been rejected with an approved one.
Under its original form Reach would have required health and environmental safety checks on about30,000 chemical substances out of the 100,000 estimated to be currently in use for daily householdand industrial products.
Under an European Council amendment, the mandatory substitution clause was removed. The newEuropean regulator created by the law would have to grant an authorisation under an "adequatecontrol" procedure, even if safer alternatives are available.
Companies will have to replace about 200 of the most toxic substances with safer alternatives.Companies would also have to show that about 1,500 less hazardous substances, such as phthalates,are used with "adequate control" and to suggest potential alternatives.
The ministers also cut clauses that would have required firms to follow basic safety rules forchemicals outside the scope of Reach and to disclose safety data to consumers.
Consumer groups say the changes would lead to thousands of chemicals remaining in use in themarket without adequate health safety information being available.
In the first reading of the controversial bill last month the European Parliament amended theCommission's original proposals to exclude certain industries, including the food and foodingredients sectors, and to reduce requirements on safety testing.
However some packaging chemicals used by the industry might still be caught up in legislation.
The new legislation will reverse the burden of proof for the testing and risk assessment ofchemicals from the authorities to the companies themselves. The legislation, in effect, transfersthe costs and responsibility of testing chemical substances to industry.
The European Commission first adopted the Reach in October 2003 as a means of forging a newpolicy to replace the current dual system for assessing risks of "existing" and newchemical substances.
The law will replace 40 existing legal acts and create a single system for all chemicalsubstances in the EU. It will introduce a new regulatory body, the European Chemicals Agency, whichwill manage the registration of substances, through the setting up of a database.
A failure to register will mean the substance cannot be manufactured or imported to the EUmarket.
The Commission argues that Reach will improve the current EU chemicals legislation, whichdistinguishes between so-called "existing" and "new" chemicals.
All chemicals that were put on the market before 1981 are called "existing" chemicals. Theyamount to around 100,000. Chemicals introduced after 1981, numbering around 4,300, are called"new" chemicals.
The Commission expects that the final decision on Reach will be made by the European Parliamentand Council in autumn 2006. The Commission expects the regulation to come into force during spring2007.
