On April 24, 2015 the European Commission (EC) held a round table meeting on the impact assessment on criteria to identify endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in Brussels, Belgium. It was the second of a series of meetings hosted by the EC on this topic (FPF reported). The goal of the meeting was to inform representatives from Member States (MS) and Members of the European Economic Area (EEA Members) about the on-going impact assessment (IA) and to answer the participants’ questions. The meeting’s content followed closely the first round table held with stakeholders on March 25, 2015 (FPF reported). The most notable update concerned the timeline of the screening of about 700 potential EDCs, as previously announced during the first round table. The screening is being conducted by an external contractor and started in early May 2015. Initially, most substances approved under the Plant Protection Products (PPP) legislation will be screened and first results are expected by autumn 2015. Results from the screening will be used in the first socio-economic study on agriculture, with others to follow. The entire IA is expected to be finalized in 2016.
The questions and remarks of MS and EEA Members focused mostly on the transparency of the IA process, the methodology of the EDC screening processes and the timeline of the IA. The participants also expressed the wish to continue the discussion at a more technical level and recommended to take previous scientific work and opinions into account.
Sweden emphasized its disappointment regarding the EC’s failure to adopt scientific EDC criteria by the end of 2013 (as legally required) and mentioned the on-going Court of Justice lawsuit which Sweden therefore filed against the EC in 2014 (FPF reported).

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EC (May 22, 2015). “Summary report of second round table on the impact assessment on criteria to identify endocrine disruptors.(pdf)

EC (April 17, 2015). “Agenda – Second round table on the impact assessment on criteria to identify endocrine disruptors (Brussels, 24 April 2015).(pdf)

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