The debate over the future of the SCIP database is intensifying.
The European Parliament’s lead rapporteur on the Environmental Omnibus has endorsed the European Commission’s proposal to abolish the SCIP database, arguing that its notification requirements impose disproportionate administrative and IT burdens on businesses—particularly SMEs—without delivering equivalent environmental benefits. The Council has already backed the Commission’s approach, and the European Parliament is expected to vote on its negotiating position later this year.
Yet many Members of the European Parliament disagree.
Several MEPs have warned that removing SCIP would weaken the circular economy by eliminating the EU’s only mandatory database that tracks substances of very high concern (SVHCs) in products. They argue that recyclers, waste operators, authorities and downstream users rely on this information to safely manage materials and prevent hazardous chemicals from circulating in recycled products.
At HEJSupport, together with the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and groundWork South Africa, we have called on the European Parliament to reject the premature elimination of the SCIP database.
Our message is simple:
➡️ SCIP is currently the only EU-wide legally binding system providing structured information on hazardous chemicals in products.
➡️ The proposed alternatives—such as the Digital Product Passport and the Common Chemicals Data Platform—are still under development, will not be operational for several years, and are unlikely to cover all product groups from the outset.
➡️ Eliminating SCIP before an equivalent or stronger replacement is fully operational would create a significant transparency gap, undermining worker protection, chemical safety, enforcement, the right to know, and the transition to a toxic-free circular economy.
Rather than abandoning SCIP, the EU should build on it.
The solution is not less transparency—it is better transparency:
- improve usability,
- simplify reporting,
- enhance interoperability with future Digital Product Passports,
- strengthen data quality,
- and ensure a seamless transition to next-generation digital product information systems.
Simplification should never come at the expense of public health, environmental protection, or the public’s right to know what hazardous chemicals are present in products.
The coming months will determine whether Europe strengthens—or weakens—one of its most important chemicals transparency tools.
Read our joint statement here: Civil society calls on the European Parliament to reject the premature elimination of the SCIP database
