European Commission President-elect von der Leyen announced in her political priorities this morning that “We must and will stay the course on the goals set out in the European Green Deal” and that “we will put forward a new chemicals industry package, aiming to simplify REACH” as part of an effort to shift to a “more sustainable pattern of production and consumption, retaining the values of resources in our economy for longer”. This afternoon her presidency was backed by a vote of the European Parliament – she has already been supported by Member States.
CHEM Trust welcomes this commitment to revise the nearly 20 year-old REACH Regulation, which requires considerable improvement to better protect human health and the environment, for example to reduce our exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals. We, however, regret that her programme fails to properly recognise the wider chemical pollution problem, which is a big threat to our health, nature and economy.
Three political groups in the European Parliament – S&D, Renew, and the Greens/EFA – had asked her for an ambitious revision of REACH, in order to better protect people and the environment.
Stefan Scheuer, CHEM Trust’s Chief EU Policy Advocate, said:
“The strengthening of REACH is overdue. We have seen our bodies, our water and our food contaminated with PFAS, the forever chemicals, despite the current REACH law being in force. We need to phase out the most harmful chemicals, including endocrine disrupters, and deal with the pervasive pollution from PFAS. Only action by the EU can prevent pollution, and deliver a cleaner environment and toxic-free products.
The outgoing Commission has done the preparatory work on REACH, and there is no need to wait for the rest of the newly proposed ‘Chemicals industry package’. The REACH proposal should be released within the first 100 days of von der Leyen’s new term, to finally end the delays on this key reform.”
The REACH revision has suffered from repeated delays under von der Leyen’s just-completed five year mandate. A majority of stakeholders including ministers, members of the European Parliament from multiple parties, NGOs, companies, health representatives and parts of the chemicals industry have called for quick progress on the file. Initially due in 2022, the revision was postponed several times until a political decision was made at the end of 2023 to push it to a later date.
A leaked impact assessment showed that the direct costs to the chemical industry of banning the most harmful chemicals from consumer products would be offset more than tenfold by the human health benefits in terms of avoided diseases.
Michael Warhurst, Executive Director of CHEM Trust, said:
“We agree that REACH needs to be made faster and simpler. It must be improved to enable rapid restrictions on groups of chemicals in order to protect people and nature, more fast-track restrictions of harmful chemicals in consumer products, and reduce the burden on authorities when they want to take action. Such a framework will help the whole supply chain, including the chemical industry, innovate towards safe and sustainable chemicals. This is a chance for European industry to enhance its global leadership and competitiveness in the 21st century economy.”
The political priorities also mention that the President-elect will “provide clarity on ‘forever chemicals’, or PFAS“. Ursula von der Leyen has already clarified earlier this year that the PFAS restriction will follow its due procedure and “cannot pre-empt” the European Chemicals Agency opinion – this process must continue without any disruption.
Amelia Womack, Senior EU Campaigner, said
“The science on PFAS is very clear: these are extremely persistent pollutants, which have spread across the world, and some of them are already shown to cause serious diseases. All European teenagers tested have PFAS in their blood. We need to stop increasing this pollution by phasing out these forever chemicals as soon as possible.
We also welcome the guidelines stating that the new Commission should ensure that the ‘decisions taken today do not harm to future generations’ and that one commissioner will be particularly focused on ensuring intergenerational fairness. Rapid action to phase out harmful chemicals like PFAS is crucial to providing a better world for the next generation.”
Next steps
President von der Leyen will now start receiving nominations for Commissioners from Member States. She will draft mission letters for them, after which they will go through hearings in front of the European Parliament this autumn. The new Commission College will assume office and publish its 2025 working programme towards the end of the year.
