Reaching out? – an overview of the European Commission's proposed chemicals policy

The European Commission (EC) has drafted a proposal for reforming the European Union's (EU) chemicals policy. The chemical industry has welcomed the broad political objectives of this policy, particularly those of increased protection of human health and the environment. The chemical industry also agrees that the existing process for chemicals regulation in the EU has proven to be slow and inefficient. However, it has reacted strongly to many of the finer details of the proposal, and there is a growing consensus that if the EC implements the strategy as currently outlined in the White Paper on the “Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy” it will have very serious implications on the competitiveness of Europe's chemical industry and related sectors.