“Good news for all actors”: EU provisional agreement on chemical packaging regulation lauded by EEB

07 Dec 2023 --- The European Council and Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on regulating the Classification, Labelling, and Packaging (CLP) of chemicals. The landmark deal aims to update the existing 2008 EU legislation, addressing new challenges arising from evolving commercial trends, such as online shopping and heightened concerns regarding chemical products.

The agreement accommodates various forms of trade, including online commerce and the sale of refill products, promoting the circularity of chemical products and ensuring high protection against chemical hazards.

“Revising the CLP regulation will bring a digital and circular economy to the chemicals sector. With the new rules, consumers will have all the necessary information in paper and digital format, regardless of whether they buy them in shops, in bulk, or online,” states Jordi Hereu i Boher, the Spanish Minister for Industry and Tourism.

Tatiana Santos, head of chemicals policy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), lauds the agreed revision of the CLP regulation, emphasizing its potential to strengthen classification and labeling in various aspects. Santos highlights the positive impact on hazard identification, classification and information dissemination through the supply chain.

“This is good news for all actors,” Santos tells Packaging Insights. “The revised CLP regulation is a leap forward for safety and transparency in handling hazardous chemicals across the supply chain. It expedites hazard identification, triggering specific measures for improved risk management and exposure reduction and benefits the packaging and plastics industry in the medium-long term.”

The revised CLP regulation encourages digital labels, making information on chemical safety more accessible.“From empowering consumers to choose non-toxic products to influencing waste management for a cleaner circular economy, this revision’s ripple effects span workers’ health, consumer protection and environmental conservation. With potential gains in innovation, market transparency, resource management, monitoring efficacy and public awareness, the robust CLP framework transforms chemical safety and sustainability.”

Key provisions of the agreement
The revision of the CLP regulation aligns with the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, a crucial element of the European Green Deal. The provisional agreement, having been reached with the European Parliament, now awaits formal endorsement and adoption by both institutions. 

The agreement seeks to enhance the transparency and accessibility of information related to chemical hazards. It caters to the proliferation of online shopping and the reuse of containers for bulk purchases, ensuring that consumers receive comprehensive information in paper and digital formats.

The revised regulation encourages digital labels, making information more accessible and facilitating adherence to circular economy principles. This includes specific rules for refillable chemical products, offering consumers a safe way to purchase and use chemical products sold in bulk.

The agreement introduces better and faster procedures for all actors involved in providing information on the hazards of chemicals in the EU market. This includes simplified labeling and advertising requirements, such as a minimal font size for chemical labels.

The European Commission gains new capabilities to accelerate the identification of hazardous substances and propose necessary classifications, complementing the roles of member states and industry in the process.

The agreement includes detailed directions for substances with more than one constituent (MOCS), differentiating between plant-based MOCS and others like petrochemicals. It provides a five-year derogation for certain products, allowing time for scientific reports before potential legislative adjustments. EEB chemicals policy head flags derogation for the classification of MOCS extracted from non-chemically modified plants, potentially exposing workers to SVHCs.

“Toxic-free environment”
The European Council states that the rise in popularity of emerging commercial trends, including online shopping and the reuse of containers for bulk purchases, combined with the emergence of new hazards associated with the use of chemical products (such as the presence of endocrine disruptors or the prolonged lifespan of certain substances), necessitated a revision to the existing 2008 regulation. 

The proposed regulation aims to enhance the protection of human health and the environment while facilitating more accessible access to current information on chemical hazards and simplifying labeling rules.

Santos acknowledges positive elements, such as promoting group approaches for harmonized classification and prioritizing endocrine disruptors, and persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances for harmonized classification and labeling. 

However, she flags a negative element regarding the derogation for the classification of MOCS extracted from non-chemically modified plants, potentially exposing consumers and workers unknowingly to Substances of Very High Concern (SVHCs).

“The derogation for classification of MOCS that are extracted from plants that are not chemically modified (essential oils like lavender, rose, basilica, etc.) means that these kind of fragrances and flavors are exempted from classification if they contain constituents that are carcinogenic, harmful for fertility, or otherwise toxic,” details Santos. 

“It means that consumers and workers in the packaging industry might be exposed unknowingly to such SVHCs.”

Consumer product transparency
EEB sees the CLP revision as a significant step toward promoting transparency along the supply chain, especially in consumer products. Santos points out that information on the occurrence of chemicals needs to be more transparent, particularly in consumer articles. The revision of the CLP regulation aligns with the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, a crucial element of the European Green Deal.

“If chemicals were classified under CLP, these chemicals would be notified in products through the European Single Product Register (ESPR) digital product passport. If chemical users and consumers had more information, they could choose non-toxic products (if available), and thus, market forces would contribute to increasing protection level,” Santos explains. 

“Transparency in the supply chain would increase if more chemicals were classified. This information would not only be passed in the supply chain via the safety data sheets but could also feed into other legislation, such as the digital product passport planned under the sustainable products regulation.”

Santos also underscores the interplay with the EU REACH regulation, stating, “more hazardous chemicals can be identified, and hence classified or introduced in the REACH Candidate List as SVHCs.”

Furthermore, the impact on waste management is a crucial aspect of the CLP revision. “Knowledge of which substances are classified as hazardous is a precondition to implementing a non-toxic circular economy,” Santos stresses. 

The CLP revision is anticipated to result in less contaminated waste streams, better separation of hazardous chemicals-containing wastes and regulatory control over waste treatment processes.

By Radhika Sikaria