Bättre EU-regler för en giftfri miljö - Kemikalieinspektionen

Summary
The assignment and the report (Chapter1)
The Swedish Chemicals Agency (KemI) was given the task by the Government in June 2011,
together with eight other government agencies, to undertake a broad examination of EU
legislation and other policy instruments at EU level relevant to chemicals management. The
report has been produced to fulfil this governmental assignment. One aim of the report is to
function as an input to the Environmental Advisory Council in its work to develop a new
national strategy for a non-toxic environment. While carrying out the assignment, we gathered
views from industry and commerce, consumer and environmental organisations and other
stakeholders.
The report contains an examination of EU legislation in around ten areas linked to chemicals
control and the Swedish environmental objective of A Non-Toxic Environment. The account
of the existing rules is supplemented by an analysis of shortcomings and needs for
development in the EU rules as well as proposals for amendments that should be considered
and that should be pursued by Sweden. We have made a separate examination of the EU rules
that regulate chemical aspects about articles. The report contains proposals for a new
regulation in one area (textiles). A separate analysis has additionally been made of the
environmental rules in the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s area of responsibility
which relate to regulations governing chemicals. The examination of the EU rules is
supplemented by an account of global cooperation on chemicals.
What needs to be improved at EU level? (Chapter10)
The comprehensive examination that we have undertaken leads to some general conclusions
about the EU rules. A first question is whether the EU rules cover all aspects of a non-toxic
environment. For EU rules which are aimed at environmental protection (e.g. rules on waste)
and which have the character of minimum rules, additional regulation can be introduced at
national level. Rules on chemicals are, however, often harmonised, which means that they do
not leave room for national measures. The EU rules governing chemicals are extremely
extensive and most of them have been renewed fully during the last decade. We nevertheless
conclude that there are gaps in some areas. REACH is a broad set of rules on chemicals, but it
is not suited to tackling the need to analyse and deal with groups of substances. With regard to
medicinal products, the EU rules are inadequate where the impact on the environment is
concerned. We also consider there to be a need for separate rules governing chemicals in
certain types of articles.
We consider that the EU rules should be coordinated better in some cases. The greatest
challenge lies in integrating rules on chemicals, rules on articles and rules on waste in a life
cycle perspective. We consider that there is a need for a new strategy in the EU to achieve
this. We have also attempted to assess whether the level of protection for health and
environment in the various systems of rules is comparable. The rules are separate and operate
in separate organisational structures, but they are still built on a common foundation when
assessing hazards and risks involving chemicals. Although we have not been able to make a
detailed comparison where levels of protection are concerned, it can be noted that there are
problems when the rules are not updated sufficiently often with regard to new knowledge
about risks and the development of safer alternatives. This is a clear problem regarding the
EU rules governing cosmetics.
The Swedish objective is to be able, as far as possible, to phase out the use of substances of
very high concern, in both chemical products and articles. This applies, for example, to
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