The consultation launched in September 2022 by the European Commission on its proposal for an autonomous founding Regulation of ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) ended on 10 October. Here is an analysis of the 55 contributions it received.
Professional organisations were particularly active in this consultation: 24 of them sent in their opinions, representing 43.64% of contributions.
16.36% came from NGOs, 14.55% from companies, 10.91% from public authorities, almost all of them being located in Europe.
Three main themes, related to cosmetics, were the most mentioned.
The future of the SCCS and its safety assessment principles
Professional organisations, cosmetic companies and NGOs agreed on one point and followed the position defined by Cosmetics Europe: any reallocation of the work of the SCCS to ECHA should uphold the specific and unique cutting-edge expertise that the SCCS has built up over more than 40 years with regards to safety of cosmetic ingredients and products. In CE’s view, this can only be achieved if the SCCS can remain a standalone committee within ECHA. Excerpts:
Cosmetics Europe:
“Cometics Europe recognizes the need for coordination and prioritization of various initiatives on chemicals by authorities and scientific bodies across legislations, and the necessity of an adequate sequencing where the overall hazard characterization is made before the sector safety assessments. […] For cosmetics, the sector specific safety assessment remains essential since use and exposure patterns are specific and can vary significantly between product categories, thus …
