A key all-day hearing on the EU's proposed regulation on the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemical products (REACH) is to be held today in Parliament as the bill enters its legislative phase.
Industry lobbyists and green campaigners will be busy presenting their arguments to MEPs during the event and gathering as much support as possible.
On 17 January, the European employers association UNICE unveiled fresh recommendations on how to improve the bill "to make it manageable for producers and users of chemicals" alike. These include the so-called downstream industries (metal industry and non-ferrous metals) which have so far been campaigning separately.
UNICE's new approach shifts the priority for testing and registration from an emphasis on the quantities of chemicals to be registered alone to the health and environmental risks of chemicals along the whole supply chain.
"Volume alone is not a sufficient criterion to determine the amount of data that are needed to assess the potential impacts of a chemical for human health or the environment," UNICE said in a statement.
It also wishes to limit the scope of REACH to "genuine chemicals by excluding raw materials and waste" in the way the extracting industries have asked (see EurActiv, 21 Oct. 2004). Concerning compulsory data-sharing, as proposed by Britain and Hungary (see EurActiv, 30 Nov. 2004), UNICE demands that it be based "on voluntary consortia and in line with competition and compliance rules".
But this new, less uncompromising stance is being challenged by companies such as H&M, Electrolux, Boots and Marks & Spencer, who are calling for stronger chemical legislation.
"We believe that REACH is a great opportunity to re-build confidence in chemicals, those who make them and those who use them," says Stephen Johnson, Sustainable Development Manager at Boots.
Others such as Electrolux see REACH as "an important tool in accomplishing our objectives regarding safe products, safe production and environmental protection".
This view is supported by MEP Lena Ek, the shadow rapporteur for the Parliament's Industry Committee. NGOs WWF, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe, European Public Health Alliance Environment Network and EEB have been busy promoting this view.
