The EU Council of Ministers is now supporting a court case against the EU Commission regarding the delay in delivering the criteria for EDCs. The European Parliament is also set to join. The lawsuit was started by Sweden last year.
Last month the Council of the EU voted to join the case against the Commission over its failure to meet its legal obligation to propose criteria for EDCs by the end of 2013. Sweden is asking the court to find the Commission in breach of the biocides regulation for failing to adopt criteria by the deadline set in law. Supporters see a clear hazard-based and scientifically robust definition of EDCs as a crucial step to better public health and environmental protection in Europe. The criteria are also necessary for the pesticides and biocides laws to be fully implemented.
In the Council, 21 Member States voted in favour of joining Sweden’s case, while none voted against in a written vote that ended on 16 January. Four Member States did not respond or abstained by the deadline. Denmark has also joined the case.
In the European Parliament, the environment, public health and food safety committee and the legal affairs committee decided that the Parliament should intervene in support of Sweden. The President of the Parliament has yet to take the final decision. In the meantime, eleven MEPs from all political groups except European Conservatives and Reformists sent a letter to the EU Commissioner for Health Vytenis Andriukaitis, criticising steps taken by the Commission on the EDC criteria in recent months.
Useful information
EU Council joins EDCs legal action against Commission, Chemical Watch (subscription only)
Denmark to sue EU Commission over delays on dangerous chemical legislation. Denmark and Sweden concerned about endocrine disruptors, The Copenhagen Post
Member states and European Parliament join Swedish court case on EDC criteria, ChemSec
MEP letter to health Commissioner, 20 January 2015
