WORLD / Wall Street Journal Exclusive

EU strengthens landmark chemical bill

By MARY JACOBY (WSJ)
Updated: 2006-10-11 11:13

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116047945834187978-Hb0jtGMHH6xvaQkl3
I_6eyxidxQ_20061017.html?mod=regionallinks

BRUSSELS -- In a setback for global industry, a European Parliament panel
strengthened a landmark bill that would more tightly regulate chemicals
in the European Union before sending it toward final passage.

The petrochemical industry had been trying to reduce the estimated $6.3
billion cost of complying with the new law over the next decade by asking
the EU to accept chemical-safety and environmental data already submitted
to other regulatory bodies. That would have reduced the number of
expensive new tests.

The EU Parliament's environmental committee rejected an amendment from a
conservative Dutch lawmaker that would have required the EU to accept
data prepared for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, of Paris, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other
chemical regulators.

The text of the law -- dubbed Reach for "registration, evaluation and
authorization of chemicals" -- already encourages the EU to make use of
OECD data. The National Petrochemical Refiners Association, based in
Washington, had lobbied in Brussels to remove any ambiguity about whether
such data would meet EU standards.

Nineteen of the 25 EU countries already participate in a detailed
chemical-evaluation program run by the OECD. "We don't think it's
necessary to reinvent the wheel" and require the submission of more data,
said Alexander Lambsdorff, a German parliamentarian who backed the
unsuccessful measure.

Justin Wilkes, an analyst for WWF (formerly known as the World Wildlife
Fund), an environmental organization that is lobbying hard for the
proposed law, said the parliamentary amendment would have gutted it.
"What the OECD requires is not enough information," he said. "It
undermines a key tenet of Reach, which is supposed to put the burden on
companies to produce higher-quality information."

On one of the most hard-fought points, the environmental panel also voted
to require companies to substitute safer chemicals whenever possible in
manufacturing processes. "It is an incentive [for companies] to look at
more possible substitutes and ecofriendly alternatives," said Guido
Sacconi, the Italian Socialist shepherding the legislation through
Parliament.

While the panel's actions aren't final, they will be tough for industry
to reverse at this stage. After three years of debate, final details of
the chemical legislation will likely be hammered out in negotiations
between Parliament and individual EU governments before coming back to
the full EU Parliament for a final vote. Finland's government, which
holds the rotating EU presidency, has said it would like to pass a final
version before its term expires at the end of this year.

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

Today's Top News 

� Diplomacy sought over nuclear test

� Woman tops list of China's richest

� Anti-Chen rally reaches high point

� Organ trading reports irresponsible

� Sino-Japanese trade volume to rise

Top World News 

� Denmark warns of new cartoon crisis with Muslims

� Hamas rejects demands in Qatar proposal

� Boy faces assault charge in Mo. shooting

� UN Security Council plans Afghanistan mission

� Another 60 bodies found in Baghdad

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Chinese, Chinese language, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet

Chinese language - EU strengthens landmark chemical bill