Chemical Industry: important step in REACH process
Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, sees the vote on REACH at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasburg today as an important step in the process which it hopes could lead to workable and effective legislation.
The chemical industry welcomes the fact that a broad political majority could agree on amendments to the registration element of REACH that aimed at improving the workability of REACH to ensure fast and focused development of additional knowledge about chemicals and effective improvement of health and environment protection.
Cefic however is disappointed that such an approach could not be achieved on the authorisation element of REACH, and considers that the vote reflects a conceptual misunderstanding on how substances of concern can be safely handled and used. In particular, industry regrets that authorisation might not be granted and/or would be time- limited even if safe management of the substance is confirmed, which contradicts the risk based approach.
Cefic hopes that further steps to improve the workability and effectiveness of the legislation can be taken through the work of the Council and of the Commission.
The chemical industry will continue to contribute to the process with concrete proposals to achieve good working legislation for the protection of health and the environment while maintaining the competitiveness of the industry.
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