Establishment of EU Chemical Agency in Helsinki to go ahead

Agreement finally reached on chemicals legislation

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Work on European Union legislation on closer monitoring of chemicals, which has been under examination for nearly ten years, was finally completed in Brussels on Friday. For Finland, the completion of the legislative work has special significance, because it gives the go-ahead for setting up the EU’s Chemical Agency in Helsinki.
      The aim of the legislation is to get about 30,000 chemicals, which are also needed in the everyday lives of people, into a single register. The law requires industry to replace the most hazardous chemicals, if a more environmentally-friendly option is available. In addition, the most dangerous substances must be tested, and official permission will be required for their use.
      The legislative project is one of the largest that the EU has ever embarked upon, and it has awakened intense emotions in both environmental organisations and in the chemical industry.
     
According to the Friday assessment of European environmental organisations, the watered-down chemicals act makes it possible to keep carcinogenic substances on the market, even if better alternatives are available.
      In a joint statement, Greenpeace and WWF, among others, declared that a law, which cannot protect the health and environment of the people, tends to weaken citizens’ confidence in the chemical industry, and in European legislators.
      Finnish Green MEP Satu Hassi accused the largest party group in the European Parliament, the Conservatives, of diluting the law at the last minute in favour of the chemical industry. Hassi was especially displeased that restrictions on the use of chemicals that affect human hormone function were diluted.
      "The right wing played into the hands of the chemical industry in a brutal and open manner", Hassi alleged.
     
Conservative group representative Ria Oomen-Ruijten said that the law nevertheless protects human health and the environment, while it also takes into consideration the points of view of the industry.
      "We promoted the protection of confidential information at the phase of registering new chemicals. This is good news for the manufacturers", Oomen-Ruijten says, adding that the chemical industry, worth hundreds of billions of euros, employs 1.3 million EU citizens in 27,000 companies.
      The European Commission, which laid the groundwork for the legislation, noted that the law is a clear improvement from the point of view of people’s health and the environment. At the same time, it also protects the competitiveness of European industry, the Commission said.
     
Agreement on the matter was reached in negotiations chaired by EU Presidency-holder Finland, along with representatives of the European Parliament. Formally the proposed law must still go before the member states and the European Parliament for final approval. The European Parliament is expected to vote on the matter in a couple of weeks, and the member states a few days later.
      The legislation opens the way for the establishment of the European Chemical Agency, which Finland has long hoped would be set up in Helsinki. It will be the first EU agency to be located in Finland.
      Finland had originally hoped to get the EU's Food Authority, but the tenacious opposition by Italy's then-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi led to the Food Authority being set up in Parma, Italy, with the Chemical Agency serving as something of a consolation prize for Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  EU reportedly reaches agreement on chemical legislation (1.12.2006)
  European Union Chemicals Agency to be set up in centre of Helsinki (23.3.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat