By Brian Johnson - 14th November 2005
MEPs are set to agree a deal on the EU’s controversial REACH chemicals regime this week, despite concerns that the legislation has been seriously weakened.
The parliament’s main political groups struck a deal last week that ironed out the major political sticking points on the quality and quantity of registration data for chemical substances.
The agreement brokered by socialist MEP Guido Sacconi, parliament’s lead rapporteur and his German centre-right counterpart also has the backing of the parliament’s Liberal group.
The compromise agreement cuts back on the amount of information needed for chemicals in the one to ten tonne category, the majority of chemicals in REACH’s scope, and scraps a number of tests required for chemicals produced in the ten to 100 tonne category.
REACH will now also include the One Substance, One Registration (OSOR) proposal on mandatory data sharing, seen as a victory for Europe’s Small businesses, and a “huge victory in terms of cutting costs and reducing animal testing,” according to Sacconi.
Achieving a successful vote this week in Strasbourg would have been impossible without concessions admitted Sacconi, who had until recently been seen as the environmentalist’s champion on REACH.
The agreement is likely to win “a large majority” when MEPs vote on November 17, said Sacconi, adding that the deal was the “best politically available balance.”
“This is clearly a reasonable solution which reduces the bureaucratic and economic impact of the legislation without affecting the main thrust of the new system which is to reverse the burden of proof, transferring it from the public authorities to the companies,” Sacconi told EUpolitix.
“The [agreed] text is truly the result of work done to synthesise the various, sometimes opposing interests and points of view.”
But parliament’s Green MEPs said the deal was like a chemicals industry “wish list”
“The socialist group will bear a heavy responsibility for damaging public health and environment if the deal is voted through,” said Green MEP Jonas Sjöstedt.
Despite well over a thousand parliamentary amendments, EU insiders believe agreement will be struck in Strasbourg, putting further pressure on the British EU presidency to agree a political deal by the end of the year.
The UK, late last week, bowed to German pressure to delay a decision on REACH by EU competitiveness minister set for November 28-29.
Germany said that due to the fact that its new government has not yet been formed the council should not try and reach a political agreement on REACH but only, if necessary, discuss REACH as a work in progress item.
The UK would call a further competitiveness council meeting before the end of the year, said a British spokeswoman, according to a Reuters report on Friday.
But environmental groups were outraged at what they called “Blair’s cave in to the German chemicals industry.”
“It is just a pretext to postpone the decision…it would have been no problem for the German government to participate,” said Greenpeace.
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