Is industry losing faith with ECHA and the EC?
Eleanor Grimes of Lisam Systems asks if EU chemical regulation will remain the gold standard
Since its inception in 2007, the European Chemicals Agency( ECHA) has been an independent agency, working alongside the European Commission( EC) to determine how chemicalbased products are managed within the EU.
ECHA was created as part of the REACH Regulation to manage the various stipulated processes. It now also oversees the implementation of other EU chemical-based legislation, including the Classification, Labelling & Packaging( CLP), the Biocidal Products( BPR) and Prior Informed Consent( PIC) Regulations.
Whilst ECHA has continued to push towards its goal of improving human and environmental health by working towards a safer chemical environment, this has come at the ever-increasing cost of regulatory burden. This expansion in regulation has also coincided with a series of global challenges, from economic crashes to pandemics and political changes.
The viewpoint of industry in 2006, when these goals were first set, is very different to the one facing us today in 2025. As a result, EU industry now faces growing challenges simply to remain economically viable, let alone thrive in a global market.
Whilst industry still, by and large, supports the overarching tenets of making the chemical industry a safer and more sustainable place to operate, cracks are beginning to show. Increasingly, regulation is being seen as too officious or as failing to balance safety with sustainable economic progress.
Differences over TiO 2
One of the areas where these cracks have become apparent is within CLP legislation and the harmonised classification of titanium dioxide( TiO 2
). In 2020, the EU released the 14th Adaptation to Technical Progress( ATP), which introduced a harmonised classification of Carcinogen Category 2 for TiO 2 in its powdered form, along with additional EUH statements for both solid and liquid mixtures.
This classification, originally proposed by French authorities, was
52 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981