Last week the European Commission released the Chemicals Restriction Roadmap, a new plan to restrict the use of a number of well-known groups of harmful chemicals currently available on the European market.
The roadmap provides a tentative timetable for when groups of widely-used chemicals of concern will be targeted for restrictions at the EU level up to 2027. The plan covers some of the most hazardous substances to human health and the environment - including groups of chemicals known or suspected for their hormone disrupting properties such as bisphenols, PFAS (also known as “Forever Chemicals”), phthalates and flame retardants.
The implementation of the Chemicals Restriction Roadmap is one of the important deliverables to increase protection of human health and the environment against harmful substances under the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, published in October 2020. It is estimated that the roadmap will lead to roughly 5,000 to 7,000 chemicals being banned by 2030, if implemented correctly.
Various partners and members of the EDC-Free Europe coalition have reacted to the publication of the roadmap:
