REACH Congress 2016 discusses how to improve consumer protection with regard to chemicals in everyday products
The Federal Environment Ministry advocates further amendments to the EU Chemicals Regulation REACH. For instance, there should be rules governing nanomaterials and it should be easier for consumers to exercise their right to information. These were the major points of Environment State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth in his opening remarks at the 3rd REACH Congress in Berlin. 200 experts from trade and industry, science and administration are meeting to discuss how to further develop the European Chemicals Regulation and how to strengthen consumer protection regarding hazardous chemicals. The Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) are hosting this year's REACH Congress on 5 and 6 October.
During his opening remarks Federal Environment State Secretary Jochen Flasbarth underlined: "Protecting consumers and their health is at the core of the EU regulation REACH. This regulation increases the safety of all consumer products in Europe. Thanks to their improved right to information consumers can make better informed buying decisions and signal to manufacturers more quickly that their do not want certain substances." He continued: "This is the basic direction for our continued work on REACH in the coming years."
The State Secretary stressed that the consumers’ right to information must become even more user friendly. One of the questions to be answered was why consumers should have to wait 45 days for a manufacturer or dealer to answer a question on chemicals in their products. He also noted that the chemical manufacturers’ dossiers in which they inform about the properties of the chemicals had to be improved: "A closer look at some of the data reveals that, to a large extent, they are of no use whatsoever". The European Chemical Agency, which checks these dossiers, should therefore continue to demand that data comply with legal quality standards.
In addition, the State Secretary called for adequate rules for nanomaterials to be integrated into the REACH regulation. He said: "We have advocated including nanomaterials into REACH for years now. Many member states are supporting this and we have been expecting the European Commission to present a proposal in this direction. Unfortunately this has not transpired so far."
Further information
Man-made chemicals can be found in almost all everyday products. Therefore questions concerning the safety of these chemicals are of great importance for consumer protection. Especially dangerous substances may have to be registered and approved and may even be restricted or prohibited. REACH also contains specific rights to information for consumers: They are entitled to demand information free of charge on whether a product contains more than 0.1 percent of particularly hazardous substances (independently of whether they bought the product). Inquiries are currently possible on 169 substances, which are included in the so-called REACH Candidate List due to their worrying properties.