ChemRegs Newsletter – March 2021

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

The draft proposal, which was discussed with EU member states at the latest meeting of the competent authorities sub-group on endocrine disruption (CASG-ED) on 22 March, is a major step in changing CLP to account for EDCs, as required by the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability.

In 2020, the Commission published the ‘Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability Towards a Toxic-free Environment’ which states that “the Commission will […]·propose to establish legally binding hazard identification of endocrine disruptors, based on the definition of the WHO, building on criteria already developed for pesticides and biocides, and apply it across all legislation;”

In the action plan of the strategy, it is explained that the Commission will make a “proposal to amend the CLP Regulation to introduce new hazard classes on endocrine disruptors, PBTs/vPvBs and persistent and mobile substances, and apply them across all legislation”, with a targeted date fixed in 2021.

It is proposed to create two new hazard classes – endocrine disruption affecting human health (ED HH) and endocrine disruption affecting the environment (ED ENV). It was considered a better approach to have separate hazard classes for human health and the environment, mainly for reasons of usability and workability under REACH and downstream legislations.

It is also proposed to introduce categories for each hazard class, mirroring categorisation systems already in place in the CLP or in the GHS as:

• Category 1: Known or presumed endocrine disruptors (ED HH 1 and ED ENV 1)
• Category 2: Suspected endocrine disruptors (ED HH 2 and ED ENV 2)

These categories are useful to reflect the scientific level of evidence in classification as this allows nuancing, for example, if there is strong evidence supporting the classification or if there is only some indication coming from animal studies.

However, although mirroring the CMR categories, the most favoured option at this stage is not to differentiate by using sub-categories e.g. 1A or 1B, between known and presumed EDs in Category 1.

An annex to the document provides the draft text for the new section in CLP, which would become part 3.11 in Annex 1 to the Regulation.

It is understood that industry is not in favour of the idea of creating new hazard classes for the substances, saying that any risks posed should be controlled through REACH, rather than CLP. Concerns have also been raised about perceived divergence between CLP and the Globally Harmonized System for classification and labelling of chemicals (GHS).

Other News

Dangerous Goods Emergency Action Code (EAC) 2021

The Dangerous Goods Emergency Action Code List 2021 (EAC 2021) has again been produced by the NCEC (National Chemical Emergency Centre) with the co-operation of the Home Office and is published by the Stationary Office (TSO).

The EAC List 2021 supersedes the 2019 list and is effective immediately in connection with the use of ADR/RID 2021 and is mandatory from 1st July 2021, which means EAC 2019 should no longer be used from that date.

Duty holders are required to use the EAC 2021 for the application of the appropriate Emergency Action Codes for tanks or bulk loads in Great Britain (GB) under the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009 (CDG 2009) (as amended), and in Northern Ireland (NI) under the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2010 (CDG 2010) (as amended).

Emergency Action Codes, also known as Hazchem Codes, are designed for use by the emergency services in the UK to indicate actions that may be necessary during an incident involving dangerous goods. They are displayed above the UN Number of the product on the orange Hazard Warning Panel.

Different requirements apply to UK domestic journeys and international journeys. CDG 2009/CDG 2010 implement national derogations that requires UK registered vehicles on UK domestic journeys to be marked with the EAC Code and to include a telephone number for advice in the event of an emergency. Vehicles with tanks or bulk loads on international journeys carry the HIN (hazard identification number – sometimes called the Kemler code) and are not required to display a telephone number.

EAC 2021 can be bought as a hard copy from online retailers or downloaded for free at the NCEC website: https://the-ncec.com/en/resources/the-dangerous-goods-emergency-action-code-list-2021

Amendments to IATA/ICAO

ICAO has issued addendums to the 2021-2022 edition of the Technical Instructions For The Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air.

These can be downloaded from https://www.icao.int/safety/DangerousGoods/Pages/default.aspx

IATA has also issued addendums to the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations (DGR) 62nd Edition, which can be downloaded from https://www.iata.org/en/publications/dgr/

For more information on anything in this Newsletter, please contact us at info@chemregs.co.uk