Cefic: "European Parliament Environment Committee vote takes REACH back in wrong direction"
Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, is disappointed with the outcome of the EU Parliament Environment Committee vote on REACH. Unlike the earlier votes of the Industry Committee (ITRE) and the Internal Market and consumer protection Committee (IMCO), the Environment Committee backed changes that would make REACH more bureaucratic and less workable again. Its amendments dilute the risk-based approach, call for extended data requirements for volumes of 10 - 100 tonnes and support the mandatory substitution of hazardous chemicals without taking the risk-based approach into consideration.
Furthermore, the system voted for by the Environment Committee would generate a bureaucratic process whereby the authorisation procedure for a substance would have to be repeated every five years.
A positive comment though, can be made about the reduction of requirements for low-volume chemicals, often produced by SMEs. Also positive is the decision to introduce in the mid-November plenary session, the amendments concerning registration as voted for by the ITRE and IMCO Committees. The European chemical industry hopes that during the plenary session, a large majority will be found to make REACH workable and to take a risk-based approach into consideration throughout the REACH process, including authorisation and restriction.
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