`Dialogue' needed on chemicals management

European chemicals producers should respond to recent challenges to their `licence to operate' by discussing the issues with their critics, Bryan Sanderson, president of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), told delegates at the organisation's recent annual meeting in Madrid. `The challenge is to make sure that the idea of dialogue becomes embedded in our approach to managing the issues involved,' he said. `It needs to be seen as an ongoing process which we seek constantly to improve.'

Sanderson believes that dialogue, even with groups who have been regarded as opponents or even enemies of the chemical industry - goes hand-in-hand with the industry's perennial and oft-quoted goal of improving competitiveness. Both industry and other groups, such as environmentalists, are seeking to influence the regulatory framework which circumscribes how the industry operates, in areas such as energy taxation, pollution prevention and risk assessment.

The latest battleground is over product testing and chemicals management, Sanderson said. `Calls from political and environmental groups for restrictions and bans on chemicals suspected of harming the environment have become ever louder. The chemical industry has a responsibility to addresss such public concerns by trying to bring answers to the questions raised - in cooperation with committed stakeholders.'

Restoring the public's confidence in chemicals is essential for the future of the industry - one reason for CEFIC's investment in the Long-range Research Initiative (LRI). Developed in conjunction with the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) in the US and the Japanese Chemical Industries Association, this project looks at how chemicals currently produced and used by the industry interact with people and the environment.

The LRI is independent, Sanderson insisted, with a panel of external experts overseeing its work. The project should produce its first results later this year.

CEFIC is also committed to a project to collect hazard assessment data for a thousand chemicals currently in use, selected because of their production volume, wide use and `specific concern.'

One aim of this dialogue is to convince governments and other regulatory bodies that the industry can be trusted to regulate itself, and to deflect the threat of further legislation. The inception of carbon/energy taxes across the European Union is one example of where this has not worked. `Legislators at European and national level are looking for ways to deliver their Kyoto commitments and in this we, as an industry, support them. Where we diverge is in the means. The potentially damaging impact of energy taxes on our industry is enormous. Not only will energy taxes penalise the European chemical industry versus other trading blocks, it will probably be ineffective as a means of controlling emissions,' Sanderson claimed.

{{European chemical industry: Growth rates

Actual 1998

D F I UK E Big 7 USA

Production (volume) 0.5 3.2 0.7 1.6 3.7 1.5 0.6Sales (value) -0.8 2.6 -0.5 -1.8 0.4 -0.2 0.6Exports (volume) 4.0 5.3 2.0 3.6 13.7 3.5 -0.8Imports (volume) 11.5 9.8 1.0 5.3 12.5 8.3 8.3Investment (volume) 4.0 11.0 5.0 10.3 10.0 6.9 4.0Employment -3.2 -0.4 -0.3 -0.4 1.0 -1.3 0.2

Forecasts 1999

D F I UK E Big 7 USA

Production (volume) 0.5 1.9 1.0 0.0 3.7 1.1 0.8Sales (value) -1.5 2.0 1.1 -1.5 2.0 0.1 2.0Exports (volume) 0.0 3.0 2.0 2.5 12.0 2.6 4.0Imports (volume) 2.0 4.2 3.0 3.0 11.0 4.2 8.0Investment (volume) 2.0 4.0 5.0 -5.0 10.0 1.6 3.5Employment -0.5 -1.0 -0.9 -1.0 0.5 -0.6 -0.3}}