White Paper will cost Euro1.4-7bn, says EC study

27 May 2002 00:00  [Source: ICB]

The European Union's chemical policy review will cost Euro1.4-7bn ($1.3-6.4bn), says a business impact study released by the European Commission last week.

The study, to inform the Commission on the relative cost-effectiveness of varying mechanisms for implementing the White Paper: A strategy for future chemicals policy, was performed by UK-based Risk & Policy Analysts (RPA) and discussed during a Commission stakeholder conference in Brussels, Belgium, last week. It used data collected from the industry through questionnaires, as well as information from the Commission's working groups.

Industry estimates tally with the high end of RPA's calculations. Cefic said testing 30 000 substances would cost roughly Euro7.1bn, but this could rise to nearly Euro20bn if intermediates were included. Alain Perroy, Cefic's director general, however, warned that cost was only one major element. He said the impact on business was a more important question that should be addressed.

RPA's suggestions for further research support this, calling for examination of the wider and indirect macro economic effects. It also advocated the assessment of the 'complex issue' of substances in articles and the formation of consortia, but admitted that collecting data from downstream users would be problematic.

Greenpeace said the study showed cost would not have a major impact on the industry. 'With a Euro458bn turnover (based on 2000 figures) the testing required under the regime would represent only 0.3% to 1.5% of annual turnover, or 0.03% to 0.15%, over the next ten years,' it said. It advised that this could be reduced by assessing chemicals according to their intrinsic properties, making companies share information and removing duplication by regulating groups of chemicals by class.

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