Dismantling the SCIP database risks weakening protections for consumers and workers
Progressive lawmakers in the European Parliament have criticised the European Commission for its decision to discontinue the European Chemicals Agency’s Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) database, warning that no adequate replacement is currently in place.
During an exchange with Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall on 19 January, several MEPs argued that dismantling the SCIP database risks weakening protections for consumers and workers, particularly in the waste and recycling sectors.
The Commission announced on 10 December that it intends to phase out SCIP as part of an environmental “omnibus” simplification package aimed at streamlining EU legislation on environmental assessments and the circular economy. According to the Commission, the database has not delivered sufficiently usable information for recyclers and other downstream users. It maintains that SCIP’s role will increasingly be taken over by other initiatives, including a future common chemicals data platform and the Digital Product Passport.
However, French MEP Christophe Clergeau from the Socialists and Democrats warned of a significant timing gap between the systems. He noted that the common chemicals data platform is not expected to become operational until 2030—three years after the planned closure of SCIP.
“How can you put forward such a proposal without coordinating the entry into force of the new system before closing down the old one?” Clergeau asked Commissioner Roswall.
German S&D MEP Delara Burkhardt also stressed the importance of the SCIP database for protecting workers in waste and recycling operations, arguing that no existing alternative provides equivalent safeguards against exposure to hazardous substances.
Roswall rejected the criticism, saying she “disagreed with the framing” presented by the MEPs. She argued that the Digital Product Passport—scheduled to be rolled out in phases from 2027—will ultimately contain information equivalent to that currently provided through SCIP.
The proposed simplification package will now be examined by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers before it can be adopted.
This news item was brought to you by CHEM Trust in the frame of their Toxic-free for EU project. To receive the newsletter, please subscribe here.
HEJSupport and many other environmental and public-interest organisations express serious concern over the European Commission’s proposal to discontinue the SCIP database without a fully operational replacement in place.
SCIP is currently the only EU-wide, legally mandated system that provides structured information on hazardous substances in articles, supporting the right-to-know for recyclers, waste workers, consumers, and public authorities. Phasing it out before alternative systems are functional risks undermining chemical safety, circular economy objectives, and worker protection.
The Commission argues that future tools—such as the common chemicals data platform and the Digital Product Passport—will eventually replace SCIP. However, official timelines indicate that the chemicals data platform will not be operational until around 2030, while the Digital Product Passport will only be introduced gradually from 2027. This creates a multi-year transparency gap during which no equivalent, enforceable mechanism will be in place.
Removing SCIP prematurely would:
- Weaken protections for workers in recycling and waste management, who rely on SCIP information to avoid exposure to hazardous substances
- Undermine the EU’s right-to-know and chemicals transparency commitments
- Contradict circular economy goals by depriving recyclers of essential chemical information
- Risk increasing contamination of secondary raw materials with substances of concern
Rather than dismantling the database, the Commission should focus on improving data quality, accessibility, and enforcement, while ensuring full interoperability with future digital systems.
HEJSupport, therefore, calls on the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to:
- Reject the premature phase-out of SCIP
- Maintain SCIP until an equivalent or stronger replacement is fully operational
- Guarantee legal continuity of the right-to-know for hazardous substances in products
- Ensure that the Digital Product Passport delivers, at a minimum, the same level of protection and accessibility currently provided by SCIP
Simplification must not come at the expense of health, environmental protection, and workers’ safety. Eliminating a functioning transparency tool before a proven alternative exists risks weakening EU chemicals policy at a critical moment for the circular economy and the non-toxic environment agenda.
