HEJSupport joined over 100 organizations worldwide urging the European Union to eliminate what they describe as “hypocritical, cruel, unfair, and intolerable” loopholes. These loopholes enable companies within the EU to export products to other regions, even when those products have been banned in Europe due to safety concerns.
Regulations governing the sale and use of pesticides, children’s toys, toxic chemicals, single-use plastics, and intrusive artificial intelligence systems contain a gap that permits the export of dangerous goods from Europe to other parts of the world.
An investigation by Public Eye found that in 2018, over 80,000 tonnes of pesticides containing substances banned within the EU were exported.
In 2023, a Greenpeace Germany investigation uncovered that toxic pesticides exported from the EU to non-EU countries were making their way back into Europe on agricultural products like limes, forming a cocktail of toxins that could pose health risks to European consumers.
The European Chemicals Agency reported that in 2020, over 660,000 tonnes of hazardous chemicals, either banned or severely restricted in the EU, were exported to other countries.
The briefing also highlights examples of EU legislation where these loopholes do not exist, offering a precedent for closing them. For instance, the EU regulations banning products made with forced labor and the EU regulation on mercury both apply to exports from the EU to non-EU countries.
