Biocidal Products Regulation
Could Prove Challenging for EU
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
For the European coatings indus- try, REACH, the seven-year-old European Union’s legislation on the
registration, evaluation and authorization
of industrial chemicals, has been posing
major difficulties.
However the Biocidal Products Regulation
(BPR), another piece of new legislation which
came into effect only in September last year,
could turn out to be an even bigger challenge
than expected to the industry.
With REACH, which necessitates the draw-ing-up of safety dossiers on individual chemicals, coatings producers are already having to
reformulate their products because of raw materials – at the moment relatively small in number – being withdrawn by their manufacturers
or distributors due to the expense of gathering
safety data.
With the BPR, the safety data to be submitted for the approval of biocides is far more rigorous and expensive to collect. Also, even after
a dossier has been completed, there is no guarantee that a product will be authorized by the
EU’s regulatory authorities, particularly those
at the national level.
Some national agencies, mainly in northern
Europe, are deeply sceptical about the safety of
The Biocidal
Products
Regulation (BPR),
another piece of
new legislaton
which came into
effect only in
September last
year, could turn
out to be an even
bigger challenge
than expected in
the industry.
