From: EurActiv.com

Adopted in 2006, the REACH regulation requires chemical manufacturers to register the 100,000 or so substances currently on the market and submit them for safety screening and subsequent authorisation. Those that are considered to pose an unacceptable threat to human health or the environment may be phased out and eventually replaced.

Since then, only a small number of chemicals have actually been reviewed, starting with a list of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC), which are suspected of causing cancer or disturbing the human reproductive system.

This has led campaigners to call for an acceleration of the screening process. ChemSec, an environmental lobby group, has recently accused the EU of delaying action on “endocrine-disrupting” chemicals such as phthalates, calling on regulators to speed up work. ChemSec wants 378 substances included in the list of “substances of very high concern”.

The European Commission has sought to play down expectations, indicating that the REACH review will be based on a report drawing on lessons learned from the legislation’s implementation.

Companies that want to sell chemicals must register them with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki, including details on toxicity, which the agency publishes on its website.

One contentious issue is whether ECHA should make all the toxicity data available to the public or whether parts of it should remain confidential to protect company’s patents. Some of this data may actually be withheld and kept confidential when companies can demonstrate that disclosure would hurt their bottom-line.

For the full article please see the above link.

From: European Plastics News

Plastics companies in the European Union which store potentially dangerous chemicals on their premises will have to abide by tougher management standards to prevent industrial accidents by 2015…

Tightening rules already in place under the 1997 Seveso II directive, the new law will also force EU member states to publish information on the internet about the location of plants covered by the directive and on how the public should react in a chemical accident emergency. It protects protestors’ rights to launch court challenges to planning decisions on the siting of such plants.

For more information see the above link.

From: ECHA

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published an updated version of the Guidance on the Application of the CLP Criteria following the conclusion of the consultation process. In parallel, ECHA has released a report on a workshop concerning the validity of the concept of “rapid removal” for aquatic environmental long-term hazard classification of metals and inorganic metal compounds.

For more information and to download the updated guidance document please see the above link.

From the European Coalition to end Animal Experiments:

The ECEAE has launched a new initiative with concerned companies across the industry, with the goal to gain acceptance in China for the well-established and validated methods that are available as an alternative to cosmetics testing on animals. We have invited companies to join this campaign whether or not they are already certified under the Humane Cosmetics Standard, so that we can get the broadest possible support for our objective to persuade the Chinese government to remove this barrier to ethical trade.

Both animal protection campaigners and the cosmetics industry are very concerned about the absence of alternatives to animal testing for cosmetics in China, as well as the requirement to do additional testing even for products already tested elsewhere. This puts industry in a difficult position, since many products have been long accepted around the world and companies are reluctant to see further animal testing take place when the products are already known to be safe. However, reports suggest that China is now planning to open the possibility of non-animal alternatives.

In March, at an inaugural meeting at the BUAV offices in London, representatives of leading cosmetics companies met with representatives from the BUAV and the ECEAE to discuss how progress could be made, with the support of the European Commission and Cosmetics Europe in finding a way forward that would meet the concerns of all sides. The productive meeting reached agreement on a number of ways to pursue the issue in partnership and it is hoped to have significant progress to report later this year.

For more information click here.

From Beyond BRICs:

The completion this week of an €830m acquisition by Russia’s Eurochem of the Dutch fertiliser operations of BASF, the German chemicals combine, highlights the growing interest of EM companies in buying assets in the developed world.

Even though it coincides with developed-world chemicals groups making acquisitions in EMs, there is a clear logic to these deals: access to technology and markets and the establishment of closer links with developed-world regulators. As Fitch, the credit ratings agency, says, there are more such transactions in the pipeline.

Fitch said in a note on Wednesday it saw “chemical assets in mature markets attracting increasing interest from emerging market (EM) producers, mirroring Western European producers’ ongoing expansion drive into high growth markets.”

Myriam Affri, a director in Fitch’s industrial team, told beyondbrics: “Emerging-market companies are moving downstream and looking to increase their technological content. we are going to see an acceleration in the move towards international markets.”

Recent acquisitions follow on the heels of many joint ventures, for example those involving China’s Sinochem and Sinopec, and Indian state-run enterprises such as the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative and Southern Petro-chemicals Industries Corporation.

As the Eurochem deal shows, Russian fertiliser companies are looking abroad after a period of intense consolidation at home which saw the creation of big groups, headed by Uralkali.

Eurochem is controlled by billionaire Andrei Melnichenko who also owns almost 10 per cent of K+S, a German salt and fertiliser producer and former BASF subsidiary.

Fitch lists other important deals and near-deals headed by the failed $12bn bid in 2009 by India’s Reliance Industries for Dutch-based LlyondellBasell (2009).

Successful transactions include Abu Dhabi-based International Petroleum Investment Company’s $2.3bn acquisition of US-based Nova Chemicals Corporation in 2009;  China Bluestar Group’s $2.2bn acquisition of Norway’s Elkem (2011); and Thailand-based Indorama’s $795m acquisition of US-based Old World Industries (2012).

Sinochem last year withdrew a $2.3bn bid for Australia’s Nufarm.

Fitch says leading EM chemicals producers are hungry for international action as they complete costly multi-year domestic investment programmes.

More information can be found here.

From ECHA:

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) published a list of the following 13 new Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) candidates. After preparing dossiers for each substance, the ECHA has now invited interested parties to a public consultation in which they can provide comments within a timeframe of 45 days (until 12 April 2012).

After consultation, a decision will be made as to whether the substances will be added to the ECHA Candidate List. Once on the Candidate List, producers, suppliers, importers and retailers must provide business clients directly, and consumers upon request, with information on the presence and safe use of any product containing the SVHC that exceeds 0.1% (w/w). In case the total amount of an SVHC exceeds 1 t per actor per year for all products, this SVHC also has to be notified to the ECHA.

We will keep you updated with any developments.

From ECHA:

For the first time, ECHA is publishing information on articles on the EU market that contain SVHCs included on the Candidate List. The data gathered is based on information provided by companies to ECHA in notification and registration dossiers.

The majority of notifications received so far relate to four phthalates that are on the Candidate List due to their toxicity to reproduction. These can typically be found in plastic articles. Examples of such notified articles are cables, bags, packaging material, waterproof garments and PVC flooring. The second most common notification is for the brominated flame retardant (HBCDD), which is persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. This substance can be found in articles used by the construction and building sectors such as plastic panels for the thermal insulation of buildings. It has also been notified in polystyrene foam used for packaging and in the plastic housing of electronic appliances.

This does not mean that all articles of these types contain the substance, just that they may. Similarly, not finding an article in the list does not mean that it does not contain an SVHC.

ECHA is providing this information to add to the general increase in knowledge on the use and presence of hazardous substances in consumer articles. It is also to remind importers and producers of their legal obligations, under certain conditions, to notify when their articles contain substances on the Candidate List. Finally, consumers are reminded that they have the right to know when substances on the Candidate List are present in articles that they want to buy. They have the right to ask the retailer this and to receive an answer within 45 days.

From April to December 2011, the Agency received only 203 notifications. This is a new obligation for producers and importers of articles and many may yet be unaware of their responsibility to notify. Consequently, the information does not provide a full picture of substances of very high concern in articles on the EU market. Companies are therefore encouraged to check that they have implemented their legal obligations in this regard.

The deadline for producers and importers of articles to notify ECHA of the presence in articles of the 20 SVHCs that were included in the Candidate List in December 2011 is in June 2012.

The data is available on the ECHA website and is updated every six months.

For more information click here.

From The Euorpean Chemicals Agency:

For the first time, ECHA is publishing information on articles on the EU market that contain SVHCs included on the Candidate List. The data gathered is based on information provided by companies to ECHA in notification and registration dossiers.

The majority of notifications received so far relate to four phthalates that are on the Candidate List due to their toxicity to reproduction. These can typically be found in plastic articles. Examples of such notified articles are cables, bags, packaging material, waterproof garments and PVC flooring. The second most common notification is for the brominated flame retardant (HBCDD), which is persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. This substance can be found in articles used by the construction and building sectors such as plastic panels for the thermal insulation of buildings. It has also been notified in polystyrene foam used for packaging and in the plastic housing of electronic appliances.

This does not mean that all articles of these types contain the substance, just that they may. Similarly, not finding an article in the list does not mean that it does not contain an SVHC.

ECHA is providing this information to add to the general increase in knowledge on the use and presence of hazardous substances in consumer articles. It is also to remind importers and producers of their legal obligations, under certain conditions, to notify when their articles contain substances on the Candidate List. Finally, consumers are reminded that they have the right to know when substances on the Candidate List are present in articles that they want to buy. They have the right to ask the retailer this and to receive an answer within 45 days.

From April to December 2011, the Agency received only 203 notifications. This is a new obligation for producers and importers of articles and many may yet be unaware of their responsibility to notify. Consequently, the information does not provide a full picture of substances of very high concern in articles on the EU market. Companies are therefore encouraged to check that they have implemented their legal obligations in this regard.

The deadline for producers and importers of articles to notify ECHA of the presence in articles of the 20 SVHCs that were included in the Candidate List in December 2011 is in June 2012.

The data is available on the ECHA website and is updated every six months.

We will keep you updated with any future developments.

From physorg.com:

From: Bureau Veritas

On 26 January 2012, the European Commission published implementing Decision 2012/48/EU on the extension of the temporary ban on Dimethylfumarate (CAS 624-49-7) which will come into force on 15 March 2012. The limit is still set as 0.1 mg/kg which applies for each component part of the article. No transition period has been deemed necessary since a ban on DMFu already has existed since 2009.

DMFu is a biocide and has antifungal properties. It can be used to prevent mould growth and has been found to cause skin sensitizations (contact dermatitis) even at very low concentrations. As a result, several reports were published in the EU’s rapid alert system for dangerous consumer products (RAPEX). Therefore in 2009, the EU temporarily banned all types of consumer articles containing DMFu under Regulation 2009/251/EC.

Follow the links for more information.