Non-food legislation - November 2019

Changes to the CLP Regulation
The EC has adopted the delegated act amending the CLP Regulation, which will, among other things, postpone the first compliance date for harmonised reporting (UFI) to poison centres, for mixtures intended for consumer use, from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2021. The adoption is followed by a two-month period of scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council. If neither of them objects, the adoption enters into force after being published in the OJ.
SGS reports that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has circulated a draft regulation from the EU announcing its intention to revise the CLP Regulation. The draft regulation would be the fifteenth adaptation to technical and scientific progress (ATP-15) to the CLP Regulation.

REACH
ECHA has announced that 74 substances have been proposed for evaluation by EU Member States under the Community rolling action plan (CoRAP) in the years 2020-2022. A full list of the chemicals and their public identities has been published in the draft plan (540 kB).
ECHA also reports that the Enforcement Forum has agreed that its next major enforcement project will focus on provisions related to REACH authorisation. Inspectors will check that substances of very high concern (SVHCs) which are subject to authorisation, are not placed on the market without a valid authorisation and, where authorised, that they are used in compliance with the conditions set in the authorisation decision.

Dangerous substances
Research (in Dutch, 480 kB) by RIVM on the use of SVHCs in the NL manufacturing sector shows that SVHCs are present in many (raw) materials and products. This could hamper the reuse of the materials and products. Some SVHCs may exist in raw materials while other may be added to products to enhance performance. It is also often unknown which SVHCs are present and in which products.
The PlastX research group, including researchers at the Goethe University Frankfurt, examined the overall toxicity and chemical composition of 34 everyday products made of plastic. They found that three out of four products tested contained harmful substances, including chemicals that are toxic for cells or cause endocrine disrupting effects. An article (1.21 MB) about the research is published in Environmental Science & Technology.

Nanomaterials
On 12 November, ECHA organised a webinar on REACH information requirements for nanomaterials. You can watch the recording or download the presentation (2.97 MB).
The caLIBRAte project has established a risk governance framework and web-based platform to support governance of existing and emerging manufactured nanomaterials and nano-enabled products. The final conference took place in October. The presentations can be found here.

Tobacco
The Tobacco Products Directive 2014/40/EU provides for EU-wide systems of traceability and security features to address the issue of illicit trade. The systems became operational on 20 May 2019. In November the European Commission published an information sheet (150 kB) for economic operators active in the distribution chain. They are invited to review their current reporting practices to ensure compliance with the applicable rules.
The NL State Secretary has sent answers (in Dutch) to questions about neutral packaging to the House of Representatives.

NVC members receive this information with all the relevant links in the monthly NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.