Conference
ANEC - the European Voice in Standardization, and ASI CC - the Austrian Standards Institute Consumer Council
in co-operation with
Austrian
Ministry of Health (BMG), Austrian Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs
and Consumer Protection (BMASK), Belgium Public Service (FPS) Health,
Food Chain Safety and Environment, Danish Environmental Protection
Agency (Danish EPA), Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, German Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Swedish
Chemicals Agency (KEMI) have the pleasure to invite you to the
conference:
| Hazardous chemicals in products |
| The need for enhanced regulations |
| Tuesday, 29 October 2013 (9.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m.) European Economic and Social Committee - EESC Rue Maerlant 2, Van Maerlant Building, Room VM3, Brussels |
In October 2011 ANEC, BEUC and the ASI Consumer Council organized a conference
on "How to eliminate hazardous chemicals from consumer articles?". We
then addressed gaps in the current European regulatory framework for
consumer products and identified some options for improvement.
The debate is not over! A comprehensive and systematic
approach to address chemicals in products is still missing and with the
follow-up conference of October 2013 we aim at identifying concrete
options for regulatory action. The focus will be on those fields where
national regulations or other relevant rules (e.g. Council of Europe)
are already available or in preparation and could be easily transformed
into European legislation.
Outcome of the conference
The conference - 'Hazardous chemicals in products, the need for an enhanced EU regulation' - saw speakers from the European Commission, and authorities from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden,
address food contact materials, water supply materials, indoor emissions, textiles, toys, child care articles, tattoo colours and nano-materials.
Information on consumer products was also discussed, prior to a panel debate on strategies to achieve toxic-free products.
The conference attracted more than 150 participants.
According to the hosts, national regulations or other rules (such as those set by the Council of Europe) exist, or are in preparation, for various products.
They propose these could be transformed into European legislation with relative ease.
Initiatives in these sectors could aid the commitment of the 7th Environmental Action Programme to achieve a toxic-free Europe.
Following the event, ANEC and ASI Consumer Council launched a declaration, summarising the goals of the event, addressed to the European Commissioners for Health; Consumer Policy, Environment, and Enterprise & Industry.
In June 2014 the up-to-date ANEC position paper 'Hazardous chemicals in products - The need for enhanced EU regulations' has been released. A summary is also available.