“Empty promises will remain just that, unless the legislation is revised immediately”

On Wednesday, 19 April 2023, during the Strasbourg plenary session, MEP Irena Joveva contributed to the topical debate Keeping people healthy, water drinkable and soil liveable: getting rid of forever pollutants and strengthening EU chemical legislation now. She said that there has been enough delay in the overhaul of the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation. Should an immediate proposal remain outstanding, the European Commission’s empty promises will remain just that – empty, she stressed.

Joveva began by summarising the essence of the plenary debate: the fact that basic goods such as clean water, safe food, unpolluted soil and clean air should be a given. The Union is right to pay a great deal of attention to these areas, but at the same time it shies away from regulating chemicals, where, as Joveva pointed out, there have been no serious amendments since 2006, when the still applicable Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (commonly known as REACH) was adopted.

”The (European) Commission has been seemingly promising its revision for three years now. It appears that the proposal will only be presented in the final quarter of this year, just a few months before the elections. Which means that these empty promises will remain just that. Empty.”

As Joveva elaborated, in the meantime, humans and other organisms will continue to be exposed to harmful chemicals, the negative effects of which will last for decades.

But given that all measures that have been or are being taken in the EU to protect the environment and health succeed or fail depending on closely interconnected areas that remain unregulated, Joveva concluded her speech with determination:

”Enough stalling. We need a revised REACH proposal now. While we still have time to adopt it.”

You can watch MEP Joveva’s speech here (in slovenian).

BACKGROUND

Chemicals are part of our everyday lives and are present in the products we use and in the high-tech materials needed for a circular and climate-neutral economy. The 2006 Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (commonly known as REACH) is the cornerstone of the European Union’s chemicals legislation. This Regulation aims to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment. A targeted revision of the Regulation is currently planned for the fourth quarter of 2023.

On 14 October 2020, the European Commission adopted the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. The Strategy is part of the European Union’s zero pollution ambition – a key commitment of the European Green Deal. Through the strategy, the European Commission aims to better protect citizens and the environment from harmful chemicals and to stimulate innovation by promoting the use of safer and more sustainable chemicals. However, given that this is only a strategy, it is not legally binding on Member States.