The European Commission (DG ENV.B.2. Sustainable Chemicals) is planning to present a Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS) that was announced by the European Green Deal, in the context of its zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment.
The CSS is set to shape the future of the EU chemicals framework by proposing several legislative and non-legislative actions building on a number of previous policy evaluations and initiatives, including the second REACH Review, the Fitness Check of the most relevant chemicals legislation (excluding REACH), the Communication on options to address the interface between chemicals, product and waste legislation, and previous work on the non-toxic environment strategy.
The Commission will review how to use better the EU’s agencies and scientific bodies to move towards a process of ‘one substance – one assessment’ and to provide greater transparency when prioritising action to deal with chemicals. In parallel, the regulatory framework will need to rapidly reflect scientific evidence on the risk posed by endocrine disruptors, hazardous chemicals in products including imports, combination effects of different chemicals and very persistent chemicals.
Under this scope, the Commission has published a roadmap on 9th of May. The roadmap suggests as per the Green Deal, the CSS will introduce the ‘one substance – one assessment’ concept. It will also tackle endocrine disruptors and the combination effects of different chemicals. Given the number of previous policy evaluations and initiatives, no additional public consultations will be held until the publication of the CSS. Nevertheless, stakeholders are invited to submit feedback on the Roadmap until 20 June 2020. No impact assessment is foreseen for the Strategy. However, actions developed under the strategy with expected significant impacts will be subject to an impact assessment, in line with the Better Regulation guidelines.
You can find the complete roadmap pdf here (266 KB) and input your comments through the comment area at the bottom of this page. We would welcome all your reactions and forward them to the Commission through our partner association, Eurometaux.