Upcoming EU Chemical Legislation Will Create Challenges for Europe’s Adhesives, Coatings and Sealants Industries
BRUSSELS – The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) is reporting that industry leaders recently called on the European Commission to work together to develop an EU Chemical Industry Transition Pathway to sustain the massive investments required to meet the objectives of the EU Green Deal. The action followed the release by European Cefic of the first in a series of studies, conducted by independent economic research consultancy Ricardo Energy & Environment, on the business impacts of the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). The data from more than 100 European chemical companies will be used as an input to the European Commission’s impact assessments on the Classification, Packaging and Labelling Regulation (CLP) and REACH, the centerpieces of EU chemical legislation.
According to this first study, as many as 12,000 substances could potentially be in the scope of the two upcoming legislative proposals alone – the changes to CLP and the application of a Generic Risk Approach (GRA). The study found that these substances could cover up to 43% of the European chemical industry’s total turnover.