EU eight call for critical chemicals law for access to industry building blocks

Central to their proposed plan of action is protected access to a list of key molecules deemed to be vital building blocks for all economic sectors, ensuring their production within the union.

The joint government statement warned that a cost and supply crisis in the chemical sector threatens the EU’s economic resilience, leaving it dependent on overseas supplies beyond its control.

France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary called for action by the European Commission (EC) to promote modernisation, resilience and decarbonisation.

“The [EC] should adopt a specific package dedicated to the preservation and transition of the industrial chemical sector and its competitiveness, acknowledging the key role played by a number of molecules that are the unavoidable building blocks require to feed any of the strategic value chains that Europe want to foster,” said the statement.

Nearly 20 molecules are included on the recommended list including:

• Olefin petrochemicals ethylene, propylene and butadiene
• Aromatic petrochemicals benzene, toluene and xylene
• Chlorine, sodium hydroxide, sulphur, silicon, sodium carbonates, hydrofluoric acid, methionine and lysine
• Low carbon footprint substitutes to the above including those in development

An EU critical chemicals act should also mirror existing critical raw materials and medicines legislation to deploy specific tools to support the industry at a European level, the signatories urged.

Chief among these should be investment in sustainable production and advanced tech in support of boosting capacities for strategic molecules output.

Funds should also be allocated to ‘first of a kind plants’ offering competitive and environmentally friendly means of production and inspired by the EU chips act, said the governments, with emphasis on the needs of basic chemistry plants “upstream from strategic pharmaceutical industries, especially SMEs.

Competitiveness was a key concern, with the price gaps between EU production costs and those of the US and the Middle East cited in particular.

There was also a demand for more proactive use of existing trade defence mechanisms and revision of the REACH chemicals regulation framework “to prevent unfair trade practices… destabilising the internal market and EU production of strategic molecules”.