European Restrictions on 1,2-Dichloroethane: C−H Activation Research and Development Should Be Liberated and not Limited (original) (raw)

The European Chemicals Bureau: an overview of 15 years experience in EU chemicals legislation

European Commission Joint Research Centre, 2008

From its creation in 1993, the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) has played a vital role in the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union (EU) legislation on chemicals and in contributing to the European Commissions participation in international chemicals programmes. The ECB has housed much of the European Commissions experience, capacity and historical memory in chemical risk assessment and safe chemical management. The contribution of ECB to the drafting, development and implementation of the REACH regulation has been an important one. The provision of scientific/technical expertise to the start-up phase of the newly born European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has been essential for a swift and effective implementation of REACH. The ECB has contributed to that effort not only by selecting, recruiting and training ECHA staff but also by seconding part of its own key staff to the agency. And finally, during 2008 the ECB is completing the hand-over files and transmitting them to the ECHA, which is taking over responsibility for the operational implementation of EU legislation on chemicals.

Reach, the New European Chemicals Policy: What For?

NEW SOLUTIONS: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, 2006

In October 2003 the European Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation aimed at radically recasting the Community policy on chemical substances. This proposed reform, known as REACH, sets up an overall system for the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals. The objectives of REACH are to ensure a high level of protection for human health and the environment while strengthening the competitive position of the European chemical industry. How to strike that delicate balance remains riven with controversy. While intense lobbying by industry has substantially reduced the REACH requirements on the producers of chemicals, big changes in the management of chemical risks in Europe are still in the making. The reform which has yet to be approved by the Council and Parliament in a co-decision procedure represents a real opportunity to reduce the number of chemical-related occupational diseases.

Towards a future regulatory framework for chemicals in the European Union - Chemicals 2.0

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 2023

The body of EU chemicals legislation has evolved since the 1960s, producing the largest knowledge base on chemicals worldwide. Like any evolving system, however, it has become increasingly diverse and complex, resulting in inefficiencies and potential inconsistencies. In the light of the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, it is therefore timely and reasonable to consider how aspects of the system could be simplified and streamlined, without losing the hard-earned benefits to human health and the environment. In this commentary, we propose a conceptual framework that could be the basis of Chemicals 2.0-a future safety assessment and management approach that is based on the application of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs), mechanistic reasoning and cost-benefit considerations. Chemicals 2.0 is designed to be a more efficient and more effective approach for assessing chemicals, and to comply with the EU goal to completely replace animal testing, in line with Directive 2010/63/EU. We propose five design criteria for Chemicals 2.0 to define what the future system should achieve. The approach is centered on a classification matrix in which NAMs for toxicodynamics and toxicokinetics are used to classify chemicals according to their level of concern. An important principle is the need to ensure an equivalent, or higher, protection level.

European Chemical Policy and the United States: The Impacts of REACH

2006

The European Union is moving toward adoption of its new Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) policy, an innovative system of chemicals regulation that will provide crucial information on the safety profile of chemicals used in industry. Chemicals produced elsewhere, such as in the United States, and exported to Europe will have to meet the same standards as chemicals produced within the European Union. What is at stake for the U.S. is substantial: we estimate that chemical exports to Europe that are subject to REACH amount to about 14billionperyear,andaredirectlyandindirectlyresponsiblefor54,000jobs.RevenuesandemploymentofthismagnitudedwarfthecostsofcompliancewithREACH,whichwillamounttonomorethan14 billion per year, and are directly and indirectly responsible for 54,000 jobs. Revenues and employment of this magnitude dwarf the costs of compliance with REACH, which will amount to no more than 14billionperyear,andaredirectlyandindirectlyresponsiblefor54,000jobs.RevenuesandemploymentofthismagnitudedwarfthecostsofcompliancewithREACH,whichwillamounttonomorethan14 million per year. Even if, as the U.S. chemicals industry has argued, REACH is a needless mistake, it will be far more profitable to pay the modest compliance costs than to lose access to the enormous European market.

The Concept of Essential Use: A Novel Approach to Regulating Chemicals in the European Union

Transnational Environmental Law

This article examines ‘essential use’ as a novel form of regulatory control. An essential use approach to the regulation of potentially hazardous chemicals has not been used extensively (if at all) in European Union (EU) regulatory law and warrants further consideration. Essential use, as initially proposed by scientists and later referred to in the EU 2020 Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, is a radical departure from the current method of regulating hazardous substances. The purpose of this article is to contribute to legal scholarship on essential use by (i) scoping its origins in United States law and subsequently in international law; (ii) noting its limited incorporation into the EU legal order over the past 30 years; (iii) analyzing how it could be further incorporated into the EU legal order; and (iv) considering the impact of such a move on the future regulation of hazardous substances in the EU.

Chapter 6 The EU Chemicals Policy: Towards Inclusive

2016

This contribution analyses contemporary European risk regulation as an arena for inclusive governance, concentrating on the regulatory regime for the control of chemical risks. The focus on chemicals is rewarding for a number of reasons. First, the threats to health, safety and the environment posed by