In an article published on June 17, 2019, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Health and Environmental Alliance (HEAL) informed about an open letter it has sent to the European Commission (EC) together with twenty-six other civil society organizations.
The NGOs are “extremely” concerned that “the outcome report of the Fitness check on chemicals legislation (excluding REACH)” has not yet been published, although this report is due to be discussed at the EC’s high level conference entitled ‘EU chemicals policy 2030: building on the past, moving to the future,’ that is scheduled to take place on June 27-28, 2019, in Brussels, Belgium. The evaluation was carried out as part of the REFIT program, with a public consultation held in March 2016 (FPF reported). The NGOs see the publication of this evaluation report as “absolutely essential” and therefore ask the EC to “urgently release the outcome of the non-REACH REFIT ahead of the High-Level conference and clarify that its conclusions will be used in a fully transparent way as a basis for the discussions to take place on 27-28 June.”
The NGOs also highlight that “failure [to publish the non-REACH REFIT outcome] adds to another missed deadline: the delivery of a European non-toxic environment strategy,” which the EC committed to through the seventh Environmental Action Programme (EAP) (FPF reported). Therefore, they further urge the EC to “clarify . . . the proposed timeline for the development of the non-toxic environment strategy, the promised overhaul of the strategy on endocrine disruptors and the assessment of the interface between chemicals, product and waste legislation.”
Read more
HEAL (June 17, 2019). “European Commission fails to publish outcome of a fitness check on Europe’s chemicals legislation.”
HEAL et al. (June 17, 2019). “Object: Delayed publication of the non-REACH REFIT outcome and High-Level Conference on the future of European chemicals policy.” (pdf)
Caterina Tani (June 20, 2019). “Pressure on Commission to release non-REACH Refit report.” Chemical Watch
