Parliament and Council find REACH compromise
Delegations from the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have succeeded, in their sixth set of informal negotiations, in finding a compromise on REACH, the proposed package of new chemicals regulations. Under the final compromise, to be put to all MEPs on 13 December, the 1,500 chemicals considered the most harmful will be refused authorisation if safer alternatives exist. However, a new amendment will allow some substances to be approved if producers show that they can be adequately controlled. This will be welcomed by industry, which had argued that mandatory substitution could inadvertently place a ban on substances that have socio-economic benefits. For dangerous substances, there will be an obligation to submit a substitution plan for their replacement with safer alternatives. Should no alternative exist, producers must put forward a research and development plan. Other aspects of the compromise strengthen intellectual property rights (IPR), with data protection extended from three to six years, and seek to prevent unnecessary animal testing. 'MEPs have made the development of non-animal testing methods a priority, but the price to be paid for REACH, in the short term at least, will be an increase in animal testing,' said MEP Chris Davies, who led negotiations for the Alliance for Liberal Democrats in Europe (ALDE). REACH proposes that manufacturers and importers of chemicals produce health and safety tests for around 30,000 of the 100,000 substances currently on the EU market. The screening process would be spread over an 11-year period, and would start with the most toxic chemicals and those marketed in the highest volumes. The compromise agreement has been welcomed by the European Commission, which says the deal is a 'marked improvement over the previous common position'. A number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been less enthusiastic. A consortium of environmental, women's, health and consumer groups has claimed that the deal will mean no real improvement to current legislation.