Europe
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
The European Union has started imple- menting a tough new safety regulation on biocides in coatings and other applications that is likely to result in the withdrawal
from the European market of large numbers of
coatings chemicals for dealing with pests, bacteria and other microorganisms.
Consequently, over the next several years
producers and importers of coatings in Europe
face the prospect of being forced to reformulate
their products because many biocides are no
longer available.
The legislation is the latest example of how
the EU and European governments are continu-
ing to press on with introducing tighter controls
on chemicals in coatings and other products.
The Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR),
which came into operation on September 1, is
“another step towards ensuring that only safe,
authorized products are made available throughout the EU,” said Janez Potocnik, environment
commissioner at the European Commission, the
Brussels-based EU executive.
He also asserted that the legislation is a “
sim-plification of authorization procedures (which)
will bring significant economic benefits” to producers, importers and users of biocides. But his
claims have been greeted with much scepticism
by the coatings and other industries.
The regulation, approved last year by the
European Parliament and Council of Minister
representing EU governments, replaces a biocides directive which was introduced only in
1998 but was found to be ineffective in helping
the review of the safety of hundreds of biocidal
active substances.
Biocide Regulations Force Producers and
Importers of Coatings to EU to Reformulate
Over the next
several years
producers and
importers of
coatings in
Europe face
the prospect of
being forced to
reformulate their
products because
many biocides
are no longer
available.
