Weighty matters

It's about ten inches thick and bound with strong twine, and it took a visible effort for CEFIC president Eggert Voscherau to hoist it over his head. 'Here it is,' he told delegates at the European Chemical Industry Council's annual meeting, the European Commission's proposed White Paper on chemicals policy dangling from his fist like a container from a crane at the nearby docks. 'It's 1200 pages long. If it becomes law, it would have to be read and implemented by 30 000 companies, large and small.'

Voscherau was preaching to the converted, as CEFIC members have found little that pleases them within the 1200 pages. REACH, the scheme for registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals, is the main objection.

CEFIC claims that the scheme, which calls for more stringent safety tests for many substances made by and used within the industry, will increase costs to the industry and its customers by E32billion per year. 'We agree with the need for a co-ordinated chemicals policy within the EU,' comments Voscherau, 'and we agree with the policy of replacing unwelcome chemicals. But REACH isn't the way to do it.'

Voscherau was in illustrious company at the speakers' podium. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder braved a phalanx of Greenpeace protestors outside the conference hotel to deliver a message of support for the industry. The Commission was sometimes too concerned with 'the integrity of the financial markets and the environment', he said, to the extent that it neglects the impact of its policies on industry.

Faced with such high profile support for the audience's cause, European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, responsible for enterprise policy, tried the placatory approach. Chemicals were vital to many high-earning industries in Europe, as well as being important export products in their own right, he said.

But naturally, one of the main architects of the legislation was not about to back down in front of its strongest critics. Liikanen was at pains to point out the concessions which have already been made.

Companies making or importing substances above the threshold volume must provide 'a minimum of information' on the properties, uses and safe management of the substance, and this information 'has been structured so that expensive testing is avoided as far as possible.'

There is an 11-year time period for registrations, so any cost can be spread over a long time period. Most intermediates, which never leave the production equipment, are exempt from REACH altogether, or 'only require a very basic registration and testing.' Polymers are another point of contention, but Liikanen said that 'at least half of them should be exempt and the vast majority of the remainder will be regulated with a very light touch.' The proposals are currently available on-line for eight weeks, and most of the interested parties are preparing their responses.

Putting the industry's case, Voscherau said that the Commission's attitude 'weakens Europe as an industrial location.' CEFIC's argument is that the proposed policy will weaken innovation in Europe. Speed is essential to industrial R&D, Voscherau said. Extra testing means delays and expense which would not be incurred if the research - and production - were carried out elsewhere. The outcome is obvious, he said. Companies will leave Europe.

'A country gains more from having the framework conditions for implementing innovation than actually producing good ideas in the first place,' he said. 'The US is a good example. It offers such excellent conditions for developing biotechnology that it doesn't matter where in the world a biotech invention originates. The chances are it's going to be translated into applications and products in the US.' In contrast, he said, the proposed industrial policy will create 'an environment marked by mistrust, irrational thinking and paralysing bureaucracy' in Europe.

The knock-on effects will also be harsh, he said. Industrial consultancy AD Little estimates that under the current proposals, German GDP will fall by 4.2 per cent, with some 1.9 million jobs lost.

The effects on health are also open to argument, he claimed. EC health commissioner Margot Wallström says that the proposals will reduce chemical-related cancers and other diseases, saving 18billion-54billion Euros over 30 years. However, CEFIC says this figure is based on cases of mesothelioma, which is caused by asbestos rather than chemicals.

'Occupational cancers related to chemicals are mainly a thing of the past and REACH will make no difference in this respect,' Voscherau claimed. 'We've seen a steady improvement in the workplace environment in relation to exposure to chemicals.'