Chemicals policy in Sweden, the EU and globally
If chemicals are not handled safely, they risk damaging both human health and the environment. Supervisory authorities check to see that manufacturers and importers are taking their responsibilities for ensuring that toxic substances are not released into the environment. Consumers also have a responsibility to help prevent damage to humans and the environment by storing and handling chemicals in a safe way in their everyday lives.
The Ministry of the Environment is striving to reduce the use of toxic and ecotoxic chemicals. The most hazardous ones must disappear from the market completely.
Work is continuing in Sweden, the EU and globally to ensure safer chemicals management. At the UN meeting of environment ministers in Kenya in February 2003, government representatives from 130 countries gathered together and decided to create a global chemicals strategy by 2005. The meeting was arranged by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The Stockholm Convention
In 2003, Sweden made another important contribution to international efforts to prohibit the production and use of chemical substances that persist in the environment, are toxic and can bioaccumulate in living organisms, known as POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants).
Sweden has a global profile when it comes to efforts to prohibit and restrict POP emissions. This group of chemicals includes some of the worst environmental toxins of our era, such as DDT, PCB and dioxins. At an intergovernmental conference in Stockholm in 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was signed.
A total of 111 countries and the EU have so far signed the Convention, which was ratified by Sweden in 2002. Sweden was also one of the initiators of the Stockholm Convention.
New European chemicals legislation
New chemicals legislation is starting to take shape in the EU, the breaking of new ground which Sweden has been advocating for a considerable length of time. From Swedens point of view, the new European chemicals regulatory framework, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation of Chemicals), represents an important and necessary development of European legislation in the chemicals field and is a considerable improvement on the existing regulatory system. The system could well make a valuable contribution to the achievement of the Swedish environmental quality objective of a non-toxic environment.
Under REACH, new and already existing substances will be covered by the same registration, assessment and authorisation system. The substitution principle (constantly replacing hazardous substances with less hazardous ones) and the precautionary principle (used in risk assessment) will be predominant features of the new policy. These measures are also an integral part of Swedish chemicals policy. The EU is planning to set up a European Chemicals Agency to implement REACH. The responsibility for developing knowledge about the properties of chemical substances rests with industry. This information is to be put into a common EU register.
The Rotterdam Convention
In September 2003, the Swedish Government decided to ratify the Rotterdam Convention on the export and import of hazardous chemicals. The aim of the convention is to provide knowledge about hazardous chemicals that are prohibited or that are subject to stringent restrictions. Under the provisions of the Convention, a recipient country of certain hazardous chemicals must be informed in advance by the exporting country and also approve the import (known as the prior informed consent procedure). The labelling of substances that are prohibited and subject to stringent restrictions must fulfil the requirements laid down for domestic use. The private consumer should also receive better information on hazardous chemical substances. A bill introduced by the Swedish Government proposed that clearer warnings be given in advertisements for chemical products.
The Convention now covers 26 pesticides and five industrial chemicals and work is continuing to add further chemicals. The fact that Sweden has now ratified the Rotterdam Convention means it is legally binding. Sweden has thereby taken an important step regarding global cooperation on the handling of hazardous chemicals. This convention is particularly important for developing countries and their chances of being able to protect the environment and human health.
Emissions register and information on hazardous chemicals
Both known and unknown chemicals can be found everywhere. Some are much more hazardous than others and can, for example, be carcinogenic or endocrine disruptive. Brominated flame retardants, which are added to furniture, textiles, TV sets, computers, etc., to reduce the risk of fire, constitute such a group.
The National Chemicals Inspectorate was instructed in December 2003 to draft a proposal for a system to provide information on hazardous substances in products. A strategy is to be designed to implement such a common information system throughout the EU. This assignment also included the Chemicals Inspectorate performing a pilot study of a number of product supply chains, e.g. building materials and products that contain brominated flame retardants.
The UN Conference on Environment and Development took place in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, at which the first global initiative to increase the access of the general public to information about local emissions and pollution was taken. The Swedish Chemicals Emissions Register (KUR) is one of the ways the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is trying to give the general public getter access to information on national emissions of chemical substances/groups of substances, as well as fulfilling Swedens international commitments.
