News

Scientific committees: EU-wide restriction best way to reduce microplastic pollution

The Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) has adopted its opinion on a landmark restriction proposal, which would ban microplastics in products such as cosmetics, detergents, fertilisers and could lead to a ban of its use as soft infill on artificial turf sports pitches. It would prevent the release of 500 000 tonnes of microplastics into the environment over 20 years.

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REACH

Member States plan to evaluate 58 substances in 2021-2023

We have listed 58 substances for evaluation by EU Member States under the Community Rolling Action Plan (CoRAP) for 2021-2023. Eight are planned to be evaluated in 2021, while 50 are listed for evaluation in 2022 and 2023.

We will adopt and publish the CoRAP for 2021-2023 in March 2021 following the opinion of the Member State Committee. Registrants are encouraged to look at the draft list of substances planned for evaluation in 2021 and update their dossiers to include all relevant information before March 2021.

Draft CoRAP 2021-2023 | CoRAP list of all substances | CoRAP web pages

Committees’ opinion on application for authorisation available

The consolidated opinion of the Committees for Risk Assessment and Socio-economic Analysis for the use of 4-(1,1,3,3-tetramethylbutyl)phenol, ethoxylated (EC -, CAS -) by Instrumentation Laboratory SpA is now available.

Opinions

CLP

Consultation on harmonised classification and labelling

We are looking for comments on the harmonised classification and labelling proposals for:

2,2'-ethylenedioxydiethyl dimethacrylate (EC 203-652-6, CAS 109-16-0);
resorcinol; 1,3-benzenediol (EC 203-585-2, CAS 108-46-3); and
benalaxyl (ISO); methyl N-phenylacetyl-N-2,6-xylyl-DL-alaninate (EC 275-728-7, CAS 71626-11-4).

The deadline is 5 February 2021.

Give comments

Biocides

Creosote approval with more stringent conditions proposed

ECHA’s Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) has adopted five opinions in its December meeting. The committee does not support the approval of diamine because of its health risks for workers when using products containing the substance.

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R4BP 3 and SPC editor updated

The new version of R4BP 3 provides workflow and data management improvements, as well as an enhanced user interface to visually represent how different application processes are interlinked.

The updated SPC editor improves support for preparing summaries of characteristics of products containing in situ generated active substances in the composition.

R4BP 3

UK withdrawal from the EU

Companies affected by Brexit should act now

The transition period of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU ends on 31 December 2020, and the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland starts to apply from 1 January 2021.

REACH registrations made by UK(GB)-based manufacturers, importers and only representatives will become void if they are not transferred to the EU/EEA before the transition period ends.

About half of the 1 181 substances that were originally only registered in the UK have not yet been transferred. Registrants and downstream users can consult the list available online.

UK withdrawal from the EU | Brexit transfer manual | List of substances registered only by UK companies | Latest news release

Nanomaterials

Have your say on the EUON website

We want to improve the European Observatory of Nanomaterials website to better meet your expectations. The aim is to gain more insight into your thoughts and ideas about the website on how it can be improved. Fill in a short survey and give us your ideas.

Survey