Transparency is key to increase public confidence in EU institutions and companies. The judgement of the European Court of Justice confirms that protection of confidential business information requires balanced access by the public to data submitted by companies to EU regulatory authorities. Cefic Director General Hubert Mandery commented: “By confirming the REACH rules on confidentiality, the Court reaffirms the need for a fair and predictable approach towards public access to regulatory data, in a manner that can also take into consideration innovation and industry’s competitiveness.”

Chemical companies are required to submit detailed data packages to the European Chemicals Agency (Echa). These packages routinely contain confidential business information, which is an important intangible component of a company’s valuable business assets.

The possibility that confidential business information submitted to EU agencies – in this case the individual exact volumes of production – may be disclosed to the public and thus made available to unfair

use can be a disincentive for innovation and R&D investment. This can even jeopardize the survival of companies by providing competitors with an unfair competitive advantage.

Hubert Mandery added: “The participation by Cefic to this court case in support of the European Chemicals Agency has proven to be highly valuable. It contributed to an interpretation of the Access to Documents Regulation and the Aarhus Regulation which safeguards sector-specific EU legislation”.

Weblinks:

Press release of the Court of Justice of the European Union from September 10, 2015.

Judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union (English) from September 10, 2015.

 

Reach legislation beyond 2018

Cefic further says about Reach (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) in an recent press release: Reach is the cornerstone of EU chemicals legislation. Reach was adopted back in 2006 to provide a high level of protection for human health and the environment, while enhancing the competitiveness and the innovation of the EU chemicals industry. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals.

Reach entered into force in June 2007 with three different registration phases for chemicals, starting with high tonnage chemicals. The current, third registration phase for chemicals – between 1 and 100 tonnes ¬– is ongoing until 2018.

Eight years down the road, Reach is working. The European Chemicals Agency (Echa) has created a powerful database on chemicals, a veritable EU ‚chemicals Wikipedia‘. Cefic has been very active in making Reach work, explaining this very complex legislation to its direct and indirect membership (some 29 000 members, mostly SMEs). It has organised numerous workshops and published practical guidance to ensure Reach is implemented well.

In view of the Reach review in 2017, now is the moment to start to draw the lessons from the experience in implementing Reach. The Commission has launched a number of studies to this effect.

Cefic welcomes the joint initiative taken by the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council and some EU member states to kick-start the reflection on the future of Reach with a dedicated one-day conference organised on October 20th in Brussels. The Conference, entitled “Reach and Beyond – challenges and possible options for improvements” (see event programme – http://conferencemanager.events/REACHandBeyond), aims to assess what has been achieved with Reach, to identify key challenges of the current legislation, and look ahead to the upcoming review.

Cefic will actively contribute to the upcoming discussions. In particular, it will look closely at:

  • whether Reach has delivered on its objectives in bringing increased competitiveness and innovation for the European chemicals industry;
  • how to make Reach work better for SMEs and downstream users ;
  • the prioritisation and coordination of enforcement as key elements in the successful and efficient implementation of Reach
  • specific areas of safety concerns, such as endocrine disruption, nano materials, combination effects and substances in articles,
  • ways to progress sustainable chemistry and to advance regulatory science so as to stimulate innovation
  • international regulatory and chemical management cooperation as a means to raise the level of safe chemicals management globally,
  • making sure that Reach assumes the role of reference-legislation in an integrated and consistent framework of EU chemicals law.

For more information, see Cefic Director General Hubert Mandery‘s presentation (pdf).

(dw)

Sie möchten gerne weiterlesen?

Unternehmen

European Chemical Industry Council - Cefic

Avenue E. van Nieuwenhuyse 4 box 1
1160 Brussels
Belgium