Hundreds of companies at risk of violating European harmful chemicals laws

A list of companies at risk of violating incoming European legislation on dangerous chemicals has been published by a Swedish NGO.

The SIN Producers List, a catalogue of 389 companies using chemicals deemed to be of ‘very high concern’ and likely to face future EU regulation based on its Reach (Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals) programme, included BASF, Bayer and Clariant, with each respectively using 65, 45 and 25 chemicals on the SIN list. Other companies at high risk of legislation include Dow Chemicals, Shell and Akzo Nobel.

Drawn up by the International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec), the SIN list – an acronym for ‘substitute it now’, referring to the urgent need for firms to stop producing or importing the chemicals – contains chemicals found in everything from paints to toys, from detergents to computers.

Though there are currently only 53 on the Reach list of regulated substances, ChemSec says its 378 chemicals should be banned under the Reach principles and are therefore candidates for future legislation.

The list of producers is based on public information presented by firms to the European Commission’s European Chemical Substances Information System database. ChemSec says it has produced the list for consumers as much as other stakeholders, citing the lack of transparency and action by the European Chemicals Agency and the subsequent absence of information presented to customers.

Indeed, the organisation claims its list is necessary to address the EU’s silence on the issue. It said: “This is valuable information, not least for downstream users interested in what their suppliers produce, or financial investors seeking to avoid high-risk investments in hazardous chemicals.”