Chemicals | Monthly bulletin | August 2022

Europe

Recent European Council decisions

The following table lists some of recent European Council decisions:

Open letter of support for the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability

In June of 2022, eight EU Members States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain and Sweden) wrote an open letter to pledge strong support for the European Chemicals Strategy for sustainability to the European Commission.

The Ministers of Environment highlighted the following points:

• The Chemicals Strategy’s is a reality.
• Ensuring that consumer products are free from the most harmful substances, should be a top priority. A target year should be included in the regulation.
• Derogations from the generic approach should only be allowed if their use is deemed ‘essential’. They caution against any combination of essential use and state it must be underpinned by clear criteria.
• The introduction of one or several mixture assessment factors in risk assessment will be a cornerstone to ensure the protection of citizens and future generations.
• Member States can take initiatives for new measures and to share the work with the European Commission and the European Chemicals Agency.
• The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability is a stepping-stone for establishing and maintaining non-toxic material cycles.

The essential aim is to achieve a clean circular economy for future generations.

Recent updates regarding REACH Regulation

The below table provides a summary of some recent updates (non-exhaustive) regarding REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006:

Other interesting links about REACH from the ECHA’s website

• Registry of restriction intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Registry of SVHC intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Substance evaluation - CoRAP - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Adopted opinions and previous consultations on applications for authorisation - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Applications for authorisation - current consultations - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Current calls for comments and evidence - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Authorisation List - ECHA (europa.eu)
• ECHA's completed activities on restriction
• Submitted restrictions under consideration
• Assessment of regulatory needs list

Other interesting links about CLP from the ECHA’s website

• Registry of CLH intentions until outcome - ECHA (europa.eu)
• Harmonised classification and labelling consultations - ECHA (europa.eu)

Technical publications

The following table lists recent publications related to chemicals:

Notifications to The World Trade Organization

The following table lists recent published notifications related to chemicals:

US

Hawaii Passes New PFAS Law

Hawaii has recently approved HB 1644 to prohibit the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of the following products containing PFAS chemicals:

• Food Packaging:
  • Wraps and liners
  • Plates
  • Food boats
  • Pizza boxes
• Class B firefighting foams

The manufacture, sale, distribution or use of the specified food packaging products containing intentionally added PFAS will be prohibited from December 31^st, 2024.

The manufacture, sale, or distribution for training or testing purposes of class B firefighting foam products containing intentionally added PFAS will be prohibited from July 1^st, 2024. Manufacturers of class B firefighting foam containing intentionally added PFAS will be required to notify any retailers of their products by January 1^st, 2023 and recall the product and reimburse the retailer or any other purchaser for the product.

Rhode Island Passes New PFAS Law

Rhode Island has recently signed 2022 H 7438 A to prohibit the sale and distribution of food packaging that contains intentionally added PFAS substances, effective January 1^st, 2024.

Under the rule, the following terms are defined as:

“Food packaging” is defined as any package or packaging component that is applied to or in direct contact with any food or beverage. 

“Package” is defined as a container providing a means of marketing, protecting or handling a product and shall include a unit package, an intermediate package and a shipping container as defined in ASTM D996, which includes unsealed receptacles as carrying cases, crates, cups, pails, rigid foil and other trays, wrappers and wrapping films, bags and tubs.

California Signs Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act

On June 30^th, 2022, the State of California signed into law SB 54 to establish the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. The new Act will require that certain single-use packaging and single-use plastic food service ware (“covered material”) offered for sale, distributed, or imported into California is recyclable in the state or eligible for being labeled “compostable” by January 1^st, 2032. The covered material must also meet specified recycling rates by specific time periods:

• At least 30% recycled by January 1^st, 2028;
• At least 40% recycled by January 1^st, 2030; and
• At least 65% recycled by January 1^st, 2032.

Additionally, the new Act will also prohibit a producer from selling, offering for sale, importing, or distributing covered materials in the state unless the producer complies with the Act individually or is approved to participate in the product responsibility plan of a product responsibility organization (PRO) for source reduction, collection, processing, and recycling of a covered material. Various requirements will be imposed on PROs and producers, including registration, reporting, recordkeeping, and auditing requirements, and preparing a budget and annual report. PROs will be required to establish a charge for its participant producers sufficient to ensure the requirements of the Act are met by the PRO, and would therefore impose a tax.

Canada

Canada Amends 5 Regulations Under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (CCPSA)

Canada has recently issued SOR/2022-122 ‘Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Made Under the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act (Surface Coating Materials)’. Under SOR/2022-122, the following regulations made under the CCPSA that set requirements for applied coating materials are amended:

• Surface Coating Materials Regulations
• Toy Regulations
• Cribs, Cradles and Bassinets Regulations
• Expansion Gates and Expandable Enclosures Regulations
• Playpens Regulations

The amendment includes the following revisions:

• Expands the meaning of a surface coating material to include surface coating materials that do not “dry” on application, such as powder coatings that are applied electrostatically;
• Expands the application for other decorative coating materials that may be applied to products during manufacture to include materials such as stickers or films;
• Expands the 90 mg/kg total lead limit for applied coating materials to all furniture, not only furniture that are considered children’s products;
• Limits the restrictions on lead, mercury and certain other harmful elements in coating materials applied to parts of products that are accessible;
• Removes an outdated test method for certain harmful elements in applied coating materials;
• Requires testing in accordance with a method that conforms to good laboratory practices; and
• Ensures consistency across CCPSA regulations.

SOR/2022-122 will become effective on December 19^th, 2022.

Canada Prohibits Certain Single-Use Plastics

Canada has recently issued SOR/2022-138 ‘Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations’ to prohibit the following products with different enforcement dates:

• Single-use plastic ring carriers
• Single-use plastic straws
  • Exemptions:
    • Selling single-use flexible straws in non-commercial, non-industrial and non-institutional settings
    • Business selling a package of 20 or more single-use flexible straws to another business
    • Retailer selling a package of 20 or more single-use flexible straws to a customer if the customer requests and the package is not displayed in a manner that permits the customer to view the package without the help of a store employee
    • Retailer selling single-use flexible straws to a customer if the straw is packaged together with a beverage container and the packaging was done at a location other than the retail store
    • Hospitals, medical facilities, long-term care facilities or other care institutions selling single-use plastic flexible straws to patients or residents
  • Single-use plastic checkout bags
  • Single-use plastic cutlery
  • Single-use plastic foodservice ware
  • Single-use plastic stir sticks

A summary of the timelines for the enforcement dates for the different single-use plastic products and activities is shown below in Table 1:

Table 1:

Singapore

Singapore Regulates 5 New Chemicals Under the Environmental Protection and Management Act

Singapore has recently published N. S 435 ‘Environmental Protection and Management (Hazardous Substances) (Amendment) Regulations 2022’ and N. S 436 ‘Environmental Protection and Management Act 1999 (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 2022’ to regulate 5 new chemicals as hazardous substances with no specific exemptions on uses. Manufacturers, importers, and sellers of the 5 new hazardous substances will be required to obtain a license after March 1^st, 2023. The 5 new hazardous substances are:

• Amitrole
• Dechlorane plus
• Iprodione
• Nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates
• UV-328

International

Notifications to The World Trade Organization

The following table lists recent published notifications related to chemicals: