New EU Policy on Chemicals also benefits the Economy

Study on new chemicals management presented at international workshop in Berlin

The planned EU reorientation for the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (REACH) does not only improve environmental and human health protection but also strengthens the European chemicals industry in its competitiveness and capacity for innovation. A research project commissioned by the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) which was presented at an international workshop in Berlin today shows where the potential lies.

The present system of chemicals management in Europe has its shortcomings. Under the present system chemicals which were placed on the market decades ago and which still have not been sufficiently evaluated retain a competitive advantage over newly registered and well evaluated substances. Among the approximately 30 000 relevant existing substances only about 140 have undergone systematic assessment of their risks. REACH is to change all this. In the future, manufacturers and importers will only be allowed to market those substances which have a transparent documentation of their properties and safe uses. This makes REACH a milestone for human and environmental protection.

The Fraunhofer Institut fuer Systemtechnik und Innovationsforschung (ISI, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research) and the Institut fuer OEkologie und Politik (OEkopol, Institute for Ecology and Politics) investigated practical uses and problems experienced by companies with the implementation of the new regulation. The study shows that REACH will grant safe products better market opportunities. In the face of an increasingly intensified global exchange of goods there will be pressure on all economic regions of the world to optimise their management systems towards greater product safety along the supply chain. REACH is the basis for European companies to take the lead in this respect. Innovative companies able to adapt to new situations have a competitive advantage.

A reduction of costs for damage suffered by the economy is also to be expected: improved chemical safety generated by REACH will, in the long run, benefit the economy, as the expenditure for chemical-related occupational diseases will go down, as will the expenditure for health care, waste water management and drinking water production because more precise data will make chemicals safer. Cost savings in the health sector alone are estimated by the EU to amount to 2 billion euros for Germany (15 billion euros for the EU).

The research project carried out by the Federal Environmental Agency with the title "Analysis of Costs and Benefits of the New Chemicals Policy" is a critical analysis of the benefits derived from REACH on the one hand and the difficulties it involves for companies on the other hand, taking the example of two chemical intensive value chains - washing and cleansing agents and lacquers and varnishes. The researchers found that the costs largely depend on existing information gaps for substances and on how companies will be able to close these in the future. The largest benefit can be derived if all information gaps are closed. However, the project results also reveal that the future shape of REACH will be decisive for its success. Without clear risk-related and workable rules for data and information requirements it will be impossible to make use of the potential for flexibility under REACH. The Federal Government therefore advocates less stringent exposure evaluations and joint registration of substances by different manufacturers, to keep registration costs down and to counteract a possibly excessive work load on certain companies.

The workshop organised by the Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federal Environmental Agency with the title "Investment into REACH - Start-up in a Chemical Safe Future" will take place today (1 September 2004) at the Federal Press Office (Bundespresseamt) in Berlin. It will be attended by representatives from public authorities, industry, environment and consumer protection associations and the EU Commission. The discussions will concentrate on the research project of the Federal Environmental Agency entitled “Analysis of Costs and Benefits of the New Chemicals Policy”.