Posted on December 28, 2011 by David Wagner

Thirteen More Substances Proposed for EU Ban

This post was written by David Wagner.

As we discussed early in 2011, the European Commission agreed to ban six substances under the European Union’s REACH law. Now, with the year winding down, 13 more substances have been submitted to the Commission for inclusion of the list of banned substances. On December 21, the European Chemicals Agency formally submitted to the European Commission a list of 13 substances it said should be banned under REACH. If a ban is imposed, companies will be able to request authorization to continue to use the substances in specific cases if no alternatives are available.

The substances are seven chromium compounds (chromium trioxide, chromic acid, sodium dichromate, potassium dichromate, ammonium dichromate, potassium chromate, and sodium chromate), five cobalt compounds (cobalt sulphate, cobalt dichloride, cobalt dinitrate, cobalt carbonate, and cobalt diacetate), and the solvent trichloroethylene. These thirteen substances already are listed as “substances of very high concern” under REACH.

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Posted on June 12, 2009 by David Wagner

Seven Chemicals Proposed for Restriction Under EU's REACH Law

This post was written by David Wagner.

On June 1, 2009, the European Chemicals Agency proposed that seven chemical substances should be phased out or restricted under the EU’s REACH law. The European Commission will finalize the proposal through a regulatory process and, if adopted, the seven substances would be included in REACH’s Annex XIV list of substances subject to authorization. As a result, the substances could not be placed on the EU market unless granted exemptions for specific uses.

The seven were selected from the Agency’s October 2008 list of 15 candidate substances and the determination was based on their hazardous properties, the volumes used and the likelihood of exposure to humans or the environment. The seven substances are musk xylene; solvent hardener 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane (MDA); flame retardant short chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs); flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD); and plasticizers bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), and dibutyl phthalate (DBP). These chemicals are the first substances that would be subject to restrictions under REACH.

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