EPCA ’20: Get ready for Reach 2.0, “a massive game changer” – Cefic

BARCELONA (ICIS)–The European Commission is about to launch a major revision to the Reach chemicals regulation which, amongst 70 new measures, could see entire classes of substances being banned.

Cefic director general Marco Mensink discusses the regulatory shifts facing the European chemicals sector in this podcast interview with ICIS Chemical Business editor Will Beacham

• Root and branch reform of Reach launches 14 October
• Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability to include 70 regulatory or legal measures
• More hazard-based or generic assessment of risk
• Will ban groups of substances rather than individual substances
• Will impact trade flows for EU imports
• 2-3 years from then will come into effect, rest of decade to implement
• Risks putting Europe at a disadvantage to other regions
• Revision to Reach comes on top of pressures from Covid-19, Brexit
• Recovery for Europe chemicals could take 1-2 years
• Law for climate neutrality by 2050 is an added pressure
• Europe Green Deal & recovery plan offer opportunities for chemicals

(Thumbnail picture: The headquarters of the European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki, Finland. Source: ECHA)

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