Archive
chemicals
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Safety as a goal: five principles of public policy responses to risks
September 21, 2020
Whether responding to a global pandemic or hazardous chemicals, the fundamental policy goal is essentially the same: maximise safety/minimise risks. This policy goal may sound simple, but it is far from straightforward how to maximise safety. Something the wide array of different policies around the world in response to Covid-19 have shown. So, here are a few principles which I have found to help my understanding of public policy responses to risks from working with...
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How can the European Union better support consumer choice and promote more sustainable products?
June 17, 2020
The new Circular Economy Action Plan launched under the European Green Deal aims to transform production and consumption. This means changing the way consumer products for the EU market are made and offering consumers more sustainable choices. There are already measures that support more sustainable products in the EU. Yet, a comprehensive set of requirements is missing to effectively transition to more sustainable product design and manufacturing. To close this gap, the European Commission will...
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How can we reduce and track Substances of Very High Concern in the circular economy?
June 5, 2020
Over the coming years, it is one of the Commission's main goals to transition the EU, its consumers, manufacturing and products, to a circular economy. This goal has been laid out clearly in the New Circular Economy Action Plan. When it comes to the safety of products and materials, there is still a lot to be done, before we can rely on safe material cycles to provide feedstock for all our products. Especially how Substances...
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How will the Commission act on endocrine disruptors?
May 28, 2020
In July 2018, the European Commission released its Communication on a ‘Comprehensive European Union framework on endocrine disruptors’ outlining the strategic approach to deal with these substances in the future. To do this, the European Commission is undertaking a Fitness Check on endocrine disruptors to look at how the various pieces of relevant EU legislation delivers on the objective of protecting human health and the environment by minimising the overall exposure to endocrine disruptors. A...
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What are Sweden’s priorities on chemicals in context of the European Green Deal?
May 13, 2020
Sweden is a key Member State when it comes to shaping EU environmental and chemicals policy. The annual report on Sweden’s progress on its environment objectives gives some clues about what the country’s priorities might be at the EU level. On chemicals, the main headline is that: “Sweden will not meet its non-toxic environment target by 2030”. Despite not keeping to the initial timeline, Sweden is continuing to work towards non-toxic products, for instance by...
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EU chemicals policy under the next Commission
November 16, 2018
The next European Commission will undoubtedly face a busy chemicals agenda. So busy it will only have to pick and choose its issues. But that’s it, it will have to choose, or risk others choosing for it. Looking at the Juncker Commission’s legacy on chemicals policy, one may remember the controversial discussions around glyphosate, the long-awaited criteria to identify endocrine disruptors, or the many fitness check (REFIT) exercises carried out by the administration. But these...
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Robert Wright joins FH Brussels as Senior Vice-President
November 6, 2018
FH Brussels is delighted to announce the appointment of Robert Wright as Senior Vice-President. Robert will provide senior strategic counsel to FH clients across a range of policy areas including environment, chemicals and energy, reporting to SVP & Partner Rob Anger. He will furthermore add to the team’s existing senior expertise on key issues including Brexit. Robert is an Irish national with 25 years’ experience in public policy and regulatory affairs, having worked in several...
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What is (not) in the Brexit no-deal paper for chemicals
September 26, 2018
By Malik Duhaut While Brexit is in the mind of all policy makers in Brussels and national capitals, businesses are still in the process of mitigating, if not understanding, potential risks for their supply chain and how the future UK regulatory framework will look like. The UK tried to clarify the picture for the chemical sector in a guidance document entitled “Regulating chemicals (REACH) if there is no Brexit deal”. This guidance is part of...