Phthalates and REACH
Under the REACH legislation all chemicals will have to be
registered for use with the European Chemicals Agency and certain
chemicals will eventually have to be authorised for use if they are
considered to be Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC).
On 28 October 2008, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
published a list of the first substances to enter onto the REACH
authorisation "candidate list". As expected, three phthalates -
DEHP, DBP and BBP - were included on the list due to
their EU hazard classification. The full list of substances is
available here.
The most commonly used phthalates, DINP and DIDP, are not
classified substances and will therefore not need authorisation.
They have already been pre-registered and will be registered
shortly.
Although DEHP, DBP and BBP will have to undergo authorisation,
users can continue to use these substances with confidence. DEHP
producers have already declared that they remain committed to
managing this regulatory process to ensure the continued
availability of DEHP in the future.
However, the inclusion of DEHP, DBP and BBP on the
“candidate list” for authorisation means that any
supplier of an article containing more than 0.1% weight by weight
(w/w) of them now has an obligation to provide information to the
recipient of that article. As a minimum, recipients - who can be
anyone in the supply chain from a distributors and retailers to
professional end-users - need to be told that the article contains
one or more of the substances.
Further down the supply chain, retailers also have an obligation
to provide the same information to consumers, but only if a
consumer requests it. A retailer has 45 days in which to provide
the information. For this purpose, ECPI has produced some simple
fact sheets:
When DEHP is eventually subject to authorisation, which is
likely to occur no sooner than 2013, DEHP should receive
authorisation for the majority of its uses. The results of the
European Union's Risk Assessment of DEHP, conducted under the
Existing Substances Regulation EEC 793/93, have proven that any
risks arising from the production and use of DEHP can be adequately
controlled.
Although DEHP is classified in the European Union as a Category
2 reproductive toxicant for both fertility and developmental
effects consumers can remain assured that its use in everyday
products does not pose a health risk.
Further Information
To read more about specific phthalates and REACH please refer to
the following websites:
|
