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
May 13, 2020
ECHA strategy report highlights grouping
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) publishes annual report of its Integrated Regulatory Strategy; presents results from recent review of registered substances with annual volumes greater than 100 tons, finds 56% lacking data; grouping approach helping to speed up regulatory actions, improve consistency
May 4, 2020
CMR classified substances being added to REACH restriction list
European Commission publishes draft regulation adding substances recently classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction (CMR), includes four food contact chemicals; draft open for public consultation until May 25, 2020
May 1, 2020
Nordic Council checks compliance of products sold online
Inspectors from Nordic countries examine 361 products ordered online for compliance with various EU chemicals legislation; find 53% non-compliant, higher rate of non-compliance for products sold by companies outside of EU; lead, short chain chlorinated paraffins, diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) detected most often
April 7, 2020
Action plan works to update REACH dossiers
European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) publishes progress report on action plan to update data in REACH registration dossiers; announces over 1,700 dossiers updated in 2019, covers nearly 75% of registrations above 1,000 metric tons per year
April 3, 2020
EU discusses application of mixture assessment factor
Swedish and Dutch governments hold workshop investigating application of a mixture assessment factor for risk assessment under REACH legislation; ask EU member states for feedback, best procedure for way forward
March 23, 2020
UBA: third report on compliance of REACH registrations
German Environment Agency (UBA) examines REACH registration dossiers for medium tonnage band chemicals, finds 24% are non-compliant and 31% are too complex to determine compliance, concludes that dossier improvements may be needed