Non-food legislation – June 2020

29 June 2020

CLP updates
ECHA has updated its guidance (1.78 MB) on labelling and packaging in accordance with the CLP Regulation. ECHA has also announced that the updated guidance clarifies labelling requirements for poison centre notifications. ECHA has published an article with the title Poison centres: quick access to accurate information saves lives’. The consultation on updated requirements for submitting information to poison centres and the consultation on the introduction of specific labelling information for paints created in-store closed on 9 June 2020.

Hazardous substances – EDCs, PFAS, POPs and more
The EC has launched a consultation to update concentration limit values of Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste. The deadline for comments is 7 August 2020.
FPF reports that China has launched a public consultation (in Chinese) on a set (in Chinese, 173 kB) of 19 priority chemicals or groups of chemicals identified as being hazardous.
Because no EU list of identified endocrine disruptors (EDCs) is available and only few substances have been officially identified as EDCs, the Danish EPA, in cooperation with authorities in Belgium, France, Netherlands and Sweden, has launched a website that lists EDCs
Researchers from North Carolina State University have found PFAS in every step of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River food chain, even though the river does not have a known industrial input of these compounds. An article (abstract) about the research is published in Environmental Science & Technology. FPF reports that researchers from Chalmers University of Technology have published an article (1.40 MB) in Environmental Science and Technology proposing a framework to incorporate PFAS into life cycle assessment (LCA). ECHA has published a background article and a guest column on PFAS.
In a paper (451 kB) published in Toxicological Sciences, scientists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign review research linking dozens of environmental chemicals (including BPA, phthalates and POPs) to changes in the gut microbiome and associated health challenges. RIVM believes that the transition to a circular economy provides opportunities to deal with SVHCs safely. In January 2020, RIVM published a report in Dutch (1.18 MB) investigating what is needed to achieve this transition safely. An English version of the report (1 MB) was recently published.

US: Tobacco products
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the US FDA has postponed the effective date of the required warnings for cigarette packages regulations by 120 days to 16 October 2021.

Unclear whether nanomaterials can penetrate the skin
A study (1.11 MB), commissioned by EUON, has found that the lack of standardised, validated methods and the use of varying testing protocols makes it difficult to compare results and evaluate whether nanomaterials can penetrate the skin.

COVID-19 pandemic – more non-compliant (hand) disinfectants on the market
Several EU countries have signalled to ECHA and the EC that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased number of non-compliant (hand) disinfectants. Some lack hazard labelling or claim to be disinfectants while they are not sufficiently effective against viruses.

France: draft order on packaging of pharmaceutical waste
France has sent a draft Order to the EC amending the Order on packaging of infectious clinical and similar waste and anatomical parts of human origin.

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