Chemical Rules Clear EU Hurdle

EU governments agreed Tuesday on sweeping new rules to control the use of chemicals in industry, saying the rules balanced health and environmental concerns with fears that excessive red tape would stifle business.

After years of haggling, a majority of the 25 European Union governments agreed on the compromise, which would require the registration of about 30,000 chemicals with a new European agency that could ban those substances deemed to present significant health risks.

It would be the world’s strictest standard, eclipsing U.S. laws, and could lead to global bans on some compounds.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the legislation, if backed by the European Parliament, would “radically change” how chemicals were used.

Dimas said the legislation would allow consumers to consult a registry showing which chemicals were used in a range of products, including kitchen cleaners, baby pacifiers and shower curtains.

A new EU agency set up in Helsinki, Finland, would register the substances and manage the new chemical policy. The registration process would be completed in 11 years. The first stage would be to register within three years substances that are produced in the largest quantities and are the most harmful, such as carcinogens, mutagens and toxins affecting reproduction.

“We will be able to rigorously control dangerous substances and systematically push for substitutes where needed,” Dimas said.

In coming to the agreement, EU competition ministers watered down plans to impose tougher restrictions on the use of dangerous chemicals.

The EU agency was expected to impose tough restrictions on the use of roughly the most toxic 3% of the 30,000 chemicals.

However, the approved plan did not force industry to find substitutes when original products were found to be unsafe, unlike an earlier draft preferred by the European Parliament.

Industry itself would have to prove that chemicals produced or imported in quantities of more than 1 ton a year were safe, and would have to pay for their registration in the EU database.

The package now goes back to the European Parliament for a second reading. The Council of Ministers, EU’s legislative assembly, has few options to change it at this stage but could vote it down with a majority vote.