On July 11, 2022, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a coalition of European environmental civil organizations, published an analysis of European chemicals legislation that found it takes the EU about twenty years to regulate a chemical. At this pace it would take the EU “hundreds of years to process all outstanding dossiers and ensure all chemicals currently on the market are adequately controlled.”
EEB summed the median times of each step of the regulatory process for “the 1,109 chemicals regulated or currently still undergoing regulation under Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) since 2007, when REACH entered into force.” Specifically, they found that restricting one chemical that is dangerous takes 19 years and three months, “phasing out under the so-called Authorization process [takes] 22 years and 11 months while harmonizing classification and labelling [takes] 19 years and five months to be completed from start to finish.”
EEB found three main bottlenecks in the chemical regulatory process:
- Industry groups submit dossiers without complete or reliable hazard and exposure data
- EU scientists “over-analyze” and regularly request more information because the EU cannot “act decisively on a precautionary basis” for either REACH or CLP
- And, the European Commission takes a “shockingly” long time to process dossiers sent to it despite the fact it is legally obligated to draft decisions within 3 months. In fact, “the Commission takes longer to decide than it takes the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to develop scientific opinions.”
Because REACH and CLP are up for revision, EEB suggests incorporating binding decision deadlines into the process, adding sanctions on organizations that do not provide all the necessary hazard and exposure information, and using a precautionary approach chemical regulation.
In June 2022, ECHA released its fourth annual Integrated Regulatory Strategy report which showed that the agency has been increasing the speed at which it performs the chemical regulatory processes it is responsible for. In 2021, ECHA finalized 1900 chemical assessments, 30% more than it had in 2020. The agency has some of the same concerns as mentioned by EEB stating there has been a “steep increase in substances needing harmonized classification and labelling.” ECHA further writes that “hazards need to be confirmed before risk management actions can start, and more data is often first needed [therefore] companies need to proactively update their registrations with up-to-date information.”
Reference
Tatiana Santos, et al. (July 11, 2022). “The need for speed: Why it takes the EU a decade to control harmful chemicals and how to secure more rapid protections.” EEB
ECHA (June 17, 2022). “Immediate risk management suggested for 300 harmful chemicals.”
Read more
Vanessa Zainzinger (May 17, 2022). “NGO analysis: EU authorities take years to act on harmful chemicals under REACH, CLP.” Chemical Watch
Vanessa Zainzinger (June 20, 2022). “Echa: Unexpected surge in CLH proposals creates risk management bottleneck.” Chemical Watch
DG Environment (May 11, 2022). “Science for environment policy: Risk assessment of endocrine disruptors must take their combined effect into account.” pdf. European Commission
