EU seeks global standard with big chemicals reform
Source: Reuters
By Jeff Mason STRASBOURG, France, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The European Union launches a major reform of the chemicals sector on Wednesday with a new law that has alienated trading partners and riled industry in an effort to protect health and the environment. The legislation is set to be approved by European lawmakers after years of fierce debate that has pitted chemicals giants such as Germany's BASF <BASF.DE> and Bayer <BAYG.DE> against consumer and environmental activists. Known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), the bill was designed to make companies prove that substances in everyday products from cars to clothes to computers are safe. "After an extremely difficult political process, we are now close to adopting the world's most ambitious piece of legislation on public health and environment protection," said Guido Sacconi, the Italian Socialist chiefly responsible for steering the bill through the European Parliament, on Tuesday. "It is now time to take our responsibilities and make REACH finally enter into force." REACH requires the properties of roughly 30,000 chemicals produced or imported in the EU to be registered with a central, Helsinki-based agency. Those of highest concern, such as carcinogens, would require testing and authorisation to be used, in a process that could lead to outright bans. EU leaders have said the rules would set a global standard. The parliament vote comes weeks after a deal with EU governments that settled the most contentious issues left three years after the European Commission first proposed REACH. It requires that persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic chemicals be removed from the market if suitable alternatives exist. Companies would have to submit a "substitution plan" when seeking authorisation for the roughly 1,500 chemicals expected to be considered of high concern. But if they can be adequately controlled, the substances will be approved. Activists on both sides of the debate are unhappy with the compromise. Environmentalists say it will allow dangerous substances to enter the market even when safer alternatives are available. Industry groups say the substitution plans are unnecessary and create legal uncertainty about the authorisation procedure. REACH is meant to close a loophole in EU law that does not require information on chemicals put on the market before 1981. Its detractors include the United States, which is concerned about trade flows, African nations, concerned about exports to the EU, animal rights groups and the metals sector. The compromise deal will require an absolute majority in the parliament -- equivalent to 367 votes -- to be approved. The rules are likely to enter force in mid-2007.
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