Expansion of Chemicals Authority responsibilities receives support within EU

Mauri Pekkarinen

print this

The French proposal of expanding the responsibilities of the EU Chemicals Authority, which is to be situated in Finland, has received provisional support from numerous EU member states.
      Reports from Monday's meeting of Union ministers in Brussels indicated that the proposal was widely backed, with only Sweden opposing the plans.
      The ministers discussed the future EU directive on chemicals for the first time on Monday.
      France has proposed that the tasks of the new agency include the testing of the chemicals that are under evaluation. All in all, the expansion would make the agency much larger than the EU Commission had planned.
      According to the Commission's proposal, the authority would employ between 200 and 400 people. The Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has estimated that the French model would double the personnel.
     
Finland's representative at the Brussels meeting, Minister of Trade and Industry Mauri Pekkarinen, commented that Finland does not oppose enhancing the authority's role in the evaluation of documents and testing procedures. However, Finland is more sceptical about the plans that the agency would test the chemicals itself.
      According to the chemicals directive, all chemicals used within the EU must be tested and registered. The registry of the Chemicals Authority would include some 30,000 substances.
      Pekkarinen estimated that the authority will most likely begin operations two years from now at the earliest. Finland was selected as the host of the agency in December after Italy's opposition prevented the European Food Authority from being located in Finland.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  France and Sweden disagree on size of EU Chemicals Authority to be situated in Helsinki (17.5.2004)

Helsingin Sanomat