Carcinogens, endocrine disruptors and other hazardous chemicals remain in widespread use across Europe due in part to lax enforcement of EU regulations by national authorities, according to a new report from the legal charity ClientEarth.
With inspections rare, non-compliance rarely sanctioned and fines “almost non-existent”, hazardous substances remain in widespread use and pose a risk to workers and the wider environment, ClientEarth has warned as the European Commission plans to simplify EU rules.
Under the regulation on registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (dubbed REACH), substances identified as particularly dangerous are banned by default, and authorisations for strictly controlled substances are granted on a case-by-case basis where their use is deemed essential and no viable alternative available.
But the European Chemicals Agency reported last year that some 40% of inspections across all EU member states revealed companies failing to comply with legal requirements under the authorisation regime, with issues ranging from a lack of safety data to unlicensed uses.
Chromium trioxide – a carcinogenic compound used in protective or shiny decorative coatings at over 1,000 sites across Europe – is the most common substance where compliance issues have been identified.
Following up ECHA’s findings, ClientEarth focused on France, Germany and Spain, using available data and access to information requests to build a picture of how responsibility for enforcement is divided between national authorities, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the Commission.
The EU executive “holds little information, and therefore knows very little, about the day-to-day state of enforcement” the group concluded, noting that the same often applied to national regulators where enforcement is delegated to regional bodies. The result is a systemic failure of oversight, ClientEarth concluded, arguing that the Commission has a legal obligation to take action.
