What we need from a chemicals in products database

In December 2018 a group of NGOs, including HEJSupport, wrote a letter to make clear that a chemicals in products database is urgently needed and has been decided by the EU legislators in Article 9 of the EU Waste Framework Directive. It requires the creation of the database, to ensure more transparency on substances of very high concern in materials. This applies also to those in imported articles, to the benefits of actors in (global) supply chains, of end-of-life management and waste operators, of the public and of public authorities.

Key elements that should be publically available to consumers and waste handlers, at a minimum, are: name and number of substance, substance concentration, release and migration rate and location in the article, safety information (including Safety Data Sheet, hazardous properties and explanations about them for laypersons), legal status of the substance, and the trade name, model and brand of the product.

The database should be developed in a way that allows already for full material declaration and for additon of information about articles that are already on the market.

HEJSupport campaigns on chemicals in products, demanding traceability of chemicals for many years. It represents NGOs in the UNEP (SAICM) chemicals in products programme on behalf of IPEN and represents NGOs in the chemicals and environment related working groups of the German Sustainable Textile Alliance.

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