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April 2004
Chemicals on the menu for EPMA's General Assembly
The European Commission continues with its efforts to introduce
expensive new legislation that could have a profound effect
on the PM industry, but there are some faint signs that its
members may be thinking again…
The European Powder Metallurgy Association (EPMA) is to hold
its General Assembly on May 14 - 15 near Rugby in the UK.
After the internal business of fees and budgets comes a selection
of presentations by invited speakers.
But an important focus for the membership will be an open
meeting over breakfast on the second day to discuss the European
Commission's new chemical proposals.
The EPMA's Technical Director, Peter Brewin, said: "Although
the European Parliament business is slow in front of the elections
in May, both the Environment and Enterprise Directorates of
the European Commission are active in continuing efforts to
advertise the 'great benefits' of the New Chemicals Policy,
now renamed REACH.
"Industry continues to meet with Commission representatives
to emphasise its concern over many aspects, but the general
attitude is still antagonistic. The Commission discounts industry-financed
business impact studies.
"The Commission recently signed a memorandum of understanding
with UNICE, a Brussels-based employers organisation, for joint
studies of the effects of REACH on the supply chain, innovation
and accession countries. But proposals from industry for detailed
studies on particular sectors such as metals were not accepted."
Nevertheless the Commission appears to be backpedalling on
its hard line. It has confirmed that the GHS system, the international
system of classification devised by the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development for the United Nations will be
incorporated into REACH. GHS recognises that alloys should
be classified according to their own properties not those
of the constituent metals.
The German business association, the BDI, which last year
launched a scathing attack on the introduction of the new
policy because of projected costs and massive job losses is
maintaining its attack on unnecessary bureaucracy and associated
costs.
In a statement last month it said: "The EU can still
expect to suffer an enormous disadvantage compared to other
economic regions. The quantity-based principle should be replaced
by a risk-oriented process. The data requirements must be
aligned with the given risk and existing data and risk evaluations
must be admitted to a great extent. The economic effects of
REACH must be calculated by a full 'impact assessment' and
its workability must be tested using pilot projects.
"Substances, articles and applications of substances
should not be covered by the regulation if they are already
regulated in the EU or at an international level. This applies
to food and feed, drugs, medical products, construction materials,
waste or explosives. Regulatory overlaps and duplications
as indicated by the given proposal have to be avoided.
"Conflicting interests between manufacturers and users
of chemicals cannot be resolved by the methods proposed. Risk-based
exposure categories should be used, rather than the concept
of intrinsic risk proposed by the commission."
The costs of the obligation to pre-register dramatically
exceed the benefits, the BDI went on. A voluntary process
can better achieve avoiding animal experiments, while the
legal and factual compulsion to form consortia should be avoided.
Among other points the BDI commented on were:
• Registration: the process is unnecessarily restrictive
with regard to innovation. It is inflexible and requires a
fundamental review. Time delay in the introduction of new
products must be avoided as a high priority.
• Evaluation: a welcome sign is that the EU Chemicals
Agency is to be given more responsibility. However, the entire
evaluation should be carried out by this Agency, giving due
regard to harmonised market conditions
• Authorisation: in principle, authorisation should
be issued in an abstract, general manner and only in individual
cases should it be manufacturer-specific. The area of application
should not be extendable until experience with the existing
explicitly named substances has been gained.
• Duties of disclosure: business and company secrets
must be fully protected. General exceptions to the protection
of confidentiality must be removed. Effective protection of
intellectual property is the basis of the innovative strength
of any economy.
• Substances in articles: the regulation concerning
substances in articles does not reflect practical experience,
especially with regard to imports. It will lead to the unequal
treatment of articles produced in the EU and will negatively
affect the entire EU economy. It is almost impossible to determine
the individual substances and the respective quantities that
would trigger a duty of registration. This regulation must
be removed or completely revised.
• Legal protection, administrative procedures, and
sanctions: the planned sanctions have not been sufficiently
determined. The facts must be described in more detail.
• Duties of documentation: the testing and documentary
obligations must be reduced considerably. Exposure categories
would be important aids in this respect. The bureaucratic
requirements in addition to the classification and labelling
requirements are “a superfluous burden."
Registration details of the EPMA’s 15th General Assembly
can be found at www.epma.com
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