On the 1st of June 2015 all mixtures placed on the Irish market must be classified, labelled and packaged in accordance with CLP and a lot of work has to be done in advance to achieve this. During 2014 the Health and Safety Authority will continue to raise awareness among stakeholders about classification of mixtures, what it...

The European Communities (Environmental Liability) Regulations 2008, came into force in Ireland on 1 April 2009 with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The purpose of these Regulations is to establish a framework of environmental liability based on the ‘polluter-pays’ principle, to prevent and remedy environmental damage and introduce a reporting obligation...

REACH is widely regarded as expensive by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The overall (direct) cost estimates of REACH specified in the 29 October 2003 Impact Assessment turned out to be an underestimate by nearly one half. By 2012 the difference added up to around EUR 1 billion; by 2018 this might have gone...

Improved rules on the collection and treatment of electric waste entered into force on 13th August 2012.   Currently only one third of electrical and electronic waste in the EU is separately collected within the documented system. The Directive introduces a collection target of 45% of electronic equipment sold that will apply from 2016 and, as a...

How important would it be to your business if certain key raw materials were no longer available to you? Would your business be viable or what would you do if your product range decreased dramatically from 26 products supplied to many clients down to a 2 product range supplied to one key customer, due to...

The 4th ATP to the CLP Regulation (EC) No 487/2013 entered into force on 28th May 2013. It applies to substances from the 1st December 2014 and mixtures from 1st June 2015 but can be used voluntarily before these dates. The main changes are as follows: New hazard categories for chemically unstable gases and non-flammable aerosols (see...

On 23 August 2013 the public consultation for Ireland’s first National Implementation Report under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Protocol on Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (known as the PRTR Protocol) was launched. The PRTR Protocol seeks to reduce the burden of pollution and waste by establishing publicly accessible national pollutant registers. The Protocol...

The ECHA Forum’s second enforcement project (REF-2) focused on checking the compliance of downstream users – particularly formulators of mixtures – with the essential requirements of the REACH and CLP regulations.  The project’s operational phase was carried out in 29 Member States or EEA countries from May 2011 until March 2012. The national enforcement authorities...

The European Commission’s Seville-based IPPC bureau has released the second draft of revised EU guidance on best available techniques (BAT) to reduce pollution from pig and poultry installations. The new draft specifies BAT techniques and their associated emission levels (AELs) from which limit values will be derived in pollution permits determined by national authorities, taking into account local conditions....

European Union legislation has established more than 130 separate environmental targets and objectives to be met between 2010 and 2050. Together, these can provide useful milestones supporting Europe’s transition towards a ‘green economy’, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The ‘green economy’ has emerged as a priority in policy debate...