EU: Restrictions Roadmap under the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability – planned group restrictions

 

The EU Commission has published a commission staff working document – Restrictions Roadmap under the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

On 14 October 2020, the European Commission published its chemicals strategy for sustainability towards a toxic-free environment (the ‘strategy’) as part of the European Green Deal.

The strategy highlights that chemicals are fundamental for society and a robust framework is needed to make Union legislation stronger and more coherent. It presents several actions to bring about a toxic-free environment and to protect people and the environment from hazardous chemicals.

In particular, the Commission is considering extending the ‘generic approach to risk management’, i.e. restricting certain substances in products for certain users while allowing limited exemptions under conditions clearly defined in law.

Until the proposed changes have been assessed and introduced in Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) (REACH Regulation), the strategy aims to ‘prioritise carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances (CMRs), endocrine disruptors, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substances, immunotoxicants, neurotoxicants, substances toxic to specific organs and respiratory sensitisers substances for (group) restrictions’ for all uses. To facilitate this action, the Commission has prepared a roadmap to prioritise these substances for (group) restrictions under REACH (the ‘Restrictions Roadmap’).

The Roadmap document contains the so called Rolling List which contains (groups of) substances which are being considered for a risk management measure or for which an entry in the Registry of Intentions (RoI) has been submitted.  The list is contained in its Annex I.

The Rolling List will be regularly reviewed. Further investigations may lead to changes in the anticipated regulatory risk management action. Therefore, it is ‘rolling’ in nature and substances covered by the Restrictions Roadmap may finally not be restricted in practice and may be taken off the list while other substances may be added.