European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) completes pilot enforcement project focused on restricted substances cadmium, lead, nickel; finds 23% of inspected products not compliant with EU chemicals regulations
September 22, 2020
ECHA director responds to criticisms
Interview with Bjorn Hansen discusses efficiency of data sharing across chemical assessments, incompleteness of REACH registration dossiers, identification of additional SVHCs, and the upcoming EU chemicals strategy
August 18, 2020
How to regulate polymers?
Chemical Watch commentary addresses the nature of polymerization reactions, provides technical background information explaining the challenges in the registration of polymers under REACH
August 13, 2020
EU notifies C9-C14 PFCA restriction to WTO
European Union notifies World Trade Organization of proposed amendment to REACH Restriction List (Annex XVII) to restrict manufacturing, use, placing on the market and import of C9-C14 perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs), their salts and related substances within the EU; long-chain PFCAs can be present in food contact materials as impurities but also degradation products of long-chain fluorotelomers
August 12, 2020
Mandatory updating of REACH dossiers
European Commission’s implementing regulation makes updating of REACH dossiers mandatory, sets defined deadlines for specific cases according to updates’ complexity
August 6, 2020
EU adopts restriction of diisocyanates
European Commission publishes regulation restricting the use and placing on the market of diisocyanates after August 24, 2023; diisocyanates will not be allowed to be used alone, in other substances, or in mixtures above a concentration of 0.1% by weight; industrial and professional uses permitted only after completing safety training
July 8, 2020
ECHA survey identifies drivers and barriers of chemical substitution
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) publishes report on motivations for companies to substitute hazardous chemicals; greatest drivers found to be regulatory restrictions under REACH, customer demand, internal sustainability strategies
July 7, 2020
FCM chemicals within EU assessment programs
Wide range of hazardous chemicals being evaluated across EU programs for industrial chemicals are also potentially used in food contact materials (FCM); analysis by the Food Packaging Forum reviews recently added chemicals, urges prioritizing known hazardous chemicals in FCMs
July 2, 2020
EU to inspect consumer products for hazardous substances
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announces large enforcement project to check for presence of select hazardous substances regulated under REACH and persistent organic pollutant legislation; communication along supply chain to be evaluated; results to be released in 2023
June 25, 2020
ECHA adds four new SVHCs to candidate list
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) identifies four new substances of very high concern (SVHCs) set to be phased-out; two are food contact chemicals including 1-vinylimidazole and 2-methylimidazole
