On 9 June, the Critical Raw Materials Alliance submitted feedback to the the European Commission's open consultation on the roadmap for its upcoming Chemicals Strategy.
The “Chemicals strategy for sustainability” was first announced as a part of the EU’s Green Deal initiative. The strategy was initially planned to be published Q2/3 2020, but has been earmarked for delay, due to COVID-19 efforts. The strategy aims to ‘ensure a toxic-free environment…to protect citizens and the environment better against hazardous chemicals and encourage innovation for the development of safe and sustainable alternatives’. The Commission encourages industry to work with the EU to enhance public health, environmental protection, and to increase global competitiveness. The strategy will tie in the results from recent consultations on the fitness check of all chemicals legislation and the second REACH Review (REACH REFIT Evaluation).
Members of our alliance are directly impacted by EU chemicals legislation, such as REACH and RoHS, and have first-hand experience with the benefits that these pieces of legislation bring, as well as regulatory inconstencies and lack of coordination in implementation between them. The CRM-A has reviewed the European Commission’s plan to reduce risks associated with producing and using chemicals. We support the aim of simplifying EU rules on chemicals by ensuring increased harmonization of work between EU agencies and legislation. In particular, the work done for the various assessments (hazard and risk assessments, RMOA’s, socio-economic impact assessments) should not be unnecessarily duplicated.
To view our submission, please click here.