Over 15 EDC-Free Europe members have commented on the European Commission’s roadmaps for the revision of REACH and the regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) of chemical substances and mixtures, calling for ambitious proposals to protect the health of people and the environment against harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

REACH and the CLP regulation are two fundamental pieces of the existing EU chemicals legislation, and are foreseen for revision under the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, which was published in October 2020.

Closing gaps and refining the REACH and CLP regulations are key steps for the European Commission and EU Member States to deliver on the commitments of the Chemicals Strategy, in particular to meet the promise to ban EDCs from consumer products.

15 EDC-Free Europe campaign members have contributed to the consultations, which is the very first step of these revision processes. Our partners are continuously monitoring these forthcoming European Commission plans, in particular to ensure that proposals to revise the REACH and CLP regulations will:

  • Respond to a high level of ambition for health and environment protection.
  • Establish a robust and coherent policy framework across all relevant sectors of legislation, from children’s toys to personal care products or food contact materials.
  • Set a precautionary approach and respond to early scientific warnings with a comprehensive definition of EDCs, including a category for “suspected EDCs”, in order to align with what has been done for carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction substances.
  • Allow regulatory decisions on groups of chemicals presenting similar structures rather than acting only substance by substance and risking “regrettable substitution”.
  • Give particular attention to vulnerable groups such as children, teenagers, pregnant women and future parents.
  • Prepare for the reality of our multiple exposure to chemicals, as early as the prenatal stage.

A wider public consultation on the revision of the CLP Regulation is expected before the end of 2021, and in 2022 for the revision of REACH.

EDC-Free Europe partners’ contribution to the CLP revision roadmap consultation:

EDC-Free Europe partners’ contribution to the REACH revision roadmap consultation: