MCCP intends to join REACH Annex XVII control
ECHA submitted a proposal on 15 July 2022 to restrict the manufacture, use and placing on the market of substances, mixtures and articles containing medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCP) and other substances that contain chloroalkanes with carbon chain lengths ranging from C14 to C17. In the Annex XV Dossier, two restriction entries for evaluation were proposed. Option A: Ban on manufacturing and placing on the market (transition period: 2 years, concentration limit 0.1% in substance, mixture and article); Option B: Ban on placing on the market (transition period: 2 years, concentration limit 0.1% in substance, mixture and article) with a longer transition period (7 years) and conditional derogation for metalworking fluids.
The UK proposes to charge businesses fees for RoHS exemption applications
On July 7, 2022, the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) of the United Kingdom submitted a proposal G/TBT/N/GBR/50 to the WTO, proposing to charge fees when processing applications for renewal, withdrawal and new exemptions of RoHS. Under the current system, the cost of determining an exemption application has been passed on to British taxpayer. According to the UK public funds management principles, the UK government is currently consulting on the development of regulations to collect fees from organizations that submit exemption applications (New exemption, extension and withdrawal applications) under the Hazardous Substances and Packaging (Legislative Functions and Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022 (2020 Regulations) in order to recover the fees. The fee will also apply to domestic and non-domestic applicants. The proposal will be adopted on December 8, 2022 and become effective on April 6, 2023.
NGOs urge European Commission to push through tighter limits for POPs in waste
On June 21, 2022, the EU Council and Parliament reached an agreement on amending the annexes to the POPs Regulation to strengthen limit values for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste, with the goal of maintaining toxic-free material cycles. It includes the restriction of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and its salts, PFOA-related compounds, dioxins and furans, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and its salts, PFHxS-related compounds, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCP) in waste.
UN committee recommends global bans for DP and UV-328
The POPs Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention, which is responsible for drafting the assessment reports, recently concluded that global action should be taken in accordance with the Stockholm Convention on POPs to list Dechlorane Plus (DP) and UV-328 in Annex A of the Convention, restrict or prohibit their use in relevant products, and formulate relevant exemption clauses according to the actual situation. The eighteenth meeting of the POPs Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention is scheduled to be held in Rome, Italy, from 26 to 30 September 2022, at which time the two draft assessments will be discussed.
Turkey publishes draft WEEE Directives and draft RoHS regulations
Recently, within the framework of Turkey's current EU legislation (2012/19/EU, 2011/65/EU and (EU) 2017/2102), Turkey officially published the "Draft Regulations on the Management of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (Draft WEEE Directive) and "Draft Regulations on Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (Draft Regulations on RoHS), and solicited comments from external stakeholders. As far as the current two drafts are concerned: the Turkish RoHS draft controls 11 categories of electrical and electronic equipment and 10 hazardous substances, which is consistent with the EU RoHS 2.0; its WEEE directive draft is also consistent with the EU WEEE 2.0 in terms of control scope, recycling requirements and labelling requirements.