Market Scenario 92 % of Non-compliant Chemicals in Consumer Products Come from Outside the EU: Cefic

The key outcome of Cefic’s data analysis has revealed that there is a need to better execute the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals for imported goods. Children’s toys are considered to be the most recurrent case of non-compliance.

Brussels/Belgium – 92 % of chemicals non-compliant with ‘Reach’ in consumer products come from outside the EU/European Economic Area (EEA). This is the key finding of the Cefic analysis of data reported through the EU’s rapid alert system (Rapex) ‘Safety Gate’.

The finding confirms an urgent need for EU member states to step up enforcement of ‘Reach’ in imported goods.

Sylvie Lemoine, Cefic Executive Director Product Stewardship, says: “We want ‘Reach’ to work and consumers to be protected. Better enforcement of ‘Reach’ in imports has to become a key element of the upcoming chemicals strategy for sustainability. We have the strictest chemical legislation in the world. But it will only fully work to the benefit of people and environment if properly enforced”.

Restricted phthalates, mostly found in children’s toys, are the most frequent case of non-compliance with ‘Reach’ at 25 %.

The total number of all chemical non-compliance caught by Rapex has increased by 24 % as compared to 2018.

“It is also important to ensure that restrictions under ‘Reach’ are actually enforceable,” added Sylvie Lemoine. “You can increase the number of inspections by ten or twenty times, but if enforcement authorities do not actually have tools to check compliance, a restriction is useless. We call for compliance tools and methodologies to accompany every restriction measure.”

Strengthening enforcement, especially in imports, has also been identified as one of the areas of improvement in the second ‘Reach’ Review published by the European Commission in 2018.

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