The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will assess all comments from interested parties regarding the active substance Milbemectin. Input is requested on the following: physical/chemical properties; details of uses and further information; methods of analysis; mammalian toxicology; residues; and environmental fate and behaviour.
Deadline: 11 December 2017
Website: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/consultations/call/171011
Amendments of the Annexes to REACH for Registration of Nanomaterials
The Commission is requesting feedback on amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) as regards Annexes I, III,VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII to address nanoforms of substances.
Deadline: 7 November 2017
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/
Evaluation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive
The main objective of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) 91/271/EEC is to protect the environment from the adverse effects of waste water discharges from urban areas and certain industrial sectors by setting requirements for the collection and treatment of urban waste water. The evaluation will assess five criteria: effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, relevance, and EU added value by analysing the Directive’s requirements and implementation in the last 25 years in the entire EU5. The findings of the evaluation will feed into the Commission’s reflection on possible further action.
Deadline: 9 November 2017
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/
Public Consultation in Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) and Patent Research Exemptions
With this consultation the Commission seeks the views of stakeholders on the Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPC) and patent research exemption of SPCs. Citizens and stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on their experience and knowledge, which the Commission will carefully analyse before deciding whether and to what extent it should take further action. SPCs are a unique intellectual property right that constitute an extension (of up to 5 years) to the term of a patent right (of 20 years). SPCs apply to innovative pharmaceutical and plant protection products that have been authorised by regulatory authorities. They aim to offset the loss of effective patent protection that occurs due to the compulsory and lengthy testing and clinical trials that products require prior to obtaining regulatory marketing approval.
Website: https://ec.europa.eu/
Patent Case Studies
A new publication by the European Patent Office (EPO) provides concrete examples of how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can use intellectual property (IP) to their advantage. It not only illustrates the variety of approaches to using IP and their many advantages, but each study also contains a list of specific recommendations. In a highly competitive business environment, Europe’s SMEs need to remain agile and responsive to market conditions. One way of doing this is to invest into R&D and build as well as maintain a strong intellectual property portfolio. But developing and fine-tuning IP strategies is not always easy, particularly for smaller entities, which often have limited resources.
Source: https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu
Schools Going Digital
The European Commission has launched the trial version of SELFIE, a new tool to support schools in self-assessing the use of digital technologies. 600 schools from 14 countries have the opportunity to try the new tool in this pilot phase, before it is finalised and made available to interested schools in Europe early 2018. SELFIE stands for Self-reflection on Effective Learning by Fostering Innovation through Educational Technology and is based on the Digitally-Competent Educational Organisations framework that offers a detailed description of what it takes for educational organisations to be digitally competent.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/
2nd World Open Educational Resources Congress
The second World Open Educational Resources (OER) Congress closed as experts and national delegates from 111 countries adopted by acclamation the 2017 Ljubljana OER Action Plan. This action plan presents 41 recommended actions to mainstream open-licensed resources to help all Member States to build Knowledge Societies and achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 4 on “quality and lifelong education.” The 2017 Ljubljana OER Action Plan provides recommendations to stakeholders in five strategic areas, namely: building the capacity of users to find, re-use, create and share OER; language and cultural issues; ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality OER; developing sustainability models; and developing supportive policy environments.
Source: http://www.oercongress.org
Western Balkans Research Foundation
Following the recommendation of the “Joint Science Conference”, which was jointly organised by the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the French Académie des sciences, the Heads of State and Government decided at the Western Balkans Conference on 12 July in Trieste, Italy, to establish a foundation to support junior scientists at scientific institutions in the Balkans, the Western Balkans Research Foundation. This foundation is designed to enable outstanding junior scientists from the Balkans and from Europe to build up excellent research labs and teams in the Balkan countries within a period of five years through ad personam grants, enjoying grant portability. The grants will allow a preceding one to two-year training period in top research teams or labs in Europe, thus enhancing scientific links between the Western Balkans and the European Union.
Source: https://wbc-rti.info/in_focus
Impact of ERC Research
A new independent study published in September, shows the impact of the European Research Council’s (ERC) funded research. According to this study, 73% of projects evaluated have made breakthroughs or major scientific advances. The report also found that the ERC is achieving its goals of funding high-risk/high-gain projects and interdisciplinary frontier research. The study furthermore found that impact went beyond scientific spheres (into economy and society), despite that this aspect was not taken into account at the time of funding.
Source: https://erc.europa.eu/
Air Quality in Europe 2017
The European Environment Agency has recently published the 2017 edition of “Air Quality in Europe”. This report presents an updated overview and analysis of air quality in Europe from 2000 to 2015. Among other, it reviews the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established in the two European Ambient Air Quality Directives, and towards the long‑term objectives of achieving levels of air pollution that do not lead to unacceptable harm to human health and the environment. According to this report, air pollution continues to have significant impacts on the health of the European population, particularly in urban areas with Europe’s most serious pollutants in terms of harm to human health being Particulate Matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ground-level ozone (O3).
Source: https://www.eea.europa.eu/
EU Countries Should use Pesticides More Sustainably
The report on the sustainable use of pesticides Directive recently adopted by the European Commission takes stock of progress made by the EU Member States in applying measures to reduce the risks and impacts of pesticides. It covers a wide range of topics such as aerial spraying, information to the public or training of professionals. The report indicates, among other, that it was found that protection of aquatic environments or specific areas such as public parks is difficult to assess given the lack of measurable targets in most National Action Plans. Moreover, the Integrated Pest Management (which promotes low-pesticide-input pest management) remains underused by Member States even though the number of EU-approved low risk pesticide substances has doubled since 2009.
Source: http://europa.eu/
EU and FAO Join Forces to Take Action on AMR
European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis and the Director-General of Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) José Graziano da Silva, recently agreed to increase the collaboration between the two organisations in tackling the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) on farms and food systems. The agreement envisages as possible actions enhancing the exchange of information and evidence related to antimicrobial use in food production; AMR management best practices; joint advocacy and education efforts to promote the responsible use of antimicrobials; supporting countries in drafting legislation of antimicrobial usage; joint trainings and capacity building for tracking the use of antibiotic in food systems and mapping the presence of AMR; and implement standards and guidelines related to AMR adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. To know more about the relation between AMR and chemistry, read the conclusions of EuCheMS-EFMC-STOA workshop on this topic.
Source: http://europa.eu
Current Brexit Negotiations
The fifth round of the Brexit negotiations started earlier this month, and in a speech made at the European Parliament, EU´s Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier stated that “Our attitude will remain resolutely constructive because we want to succeed. We want to build an ambitious and lasting partnership with the United Kingdom – which will become a third country on 30 March 2019, as was its choice – in trade, but also in security and defence or research and innovation.” Earlier in 2017 EuCheMS has informed Michel Barnier about the position of the chemistry community on Research and Education Without Borders After Brexit, urging the negotiators to retain as strong as possible a relationship between EU and UK researchers.
Source: http://europa.eu/
Expert Evaluation Joint Programming on Metrology Research
Earlier this month, the European Commission published the Final evaluation of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) and interim evaluation of the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR). The report, prepared by an independent expert group for the Commission, provides a clear endorsement of the metrology initiatives. It supports the full continuation of EMPIR, and suggests increasing the budget for a potential successor initiative. The expert group advocates increasing openness and inclusiveness to involve a wider measurement community, as well as ensuring effective coherence with other programmes. Metrology is the science of measurements and is needed to ensure quality and safety, as well as technological innovation and progress on a wide array of areas such as trade, health, or energy supplies. Given the role of chemistry in metrology, EuCheMS has answered to a public consultation on this topic earlier this year.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/
Public Hearing on Monsanto Papers and Glyphosate
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) discussed the EU risk assessment of the herbicide glyphosate, in the light of the so-called “Monsanto Papers”, with experts in a public hearing which took place on 11 October. Glyphosate is a widely used, but highly controversial plant protection product and the active substance in Monsanto’s weed killer Roundup. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) concluded that glyphosate is safe, while the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified it as “probably carcinogenic to humans”. At the hearing, MEPs discussed with experts the scientific basis for the risk assessment of glyphosate and the alleged influence of industry representatives on this assessment in the US and the EU. The hearing took place against the background of the ongoing debate over the renewal of glyphosate’s license in the EU (expiring by the end of 2017). EuCheMS and MEP Pavel Poc organised a workshop on this topic earlier this year, its conclusions can be consulted here.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
Identifying Endocrine Disruptors: Parliament Blocks Plans Exempting Some Pesticides
The European Parliament recently blocked an EU Commission proposal which would have exempted some chemicals in pesticides from being identified as endocrine disruptors. Members of the European Parliament say that the Commission exceeded its mandate by proposing to exempt substances which are actually designed to attack an organism’s endocrine system, e.g. in pests, from the identification criteria. The European Commission will therefore have to draft a new version of the text, taking into account Parliament’s input.
EU legislation requires that pesticides or biocide substances have no endocrine-disrupting effects on other species than the ones targeted. To apply this legislation, the EU needs a list of scientific criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors, which is a first step towards measures reducing their presence and protecting citizens’ health. The European Court of Justice ruled in December 2015 that the EU Commission had breached EU law by failing to publish criteria for determining endocrine disrupters due at the end of 2013. MEPs have repeatedly urged the EU to clamp down on the substances. Meanwhile, the Commission has issued a statement on this veto.
Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
New EU Environmental Standards for Large Combustion Plants
EU Member States have recently approved new standards on resources and emissions which will help national authorities to lower the environmental impact of around 3 500 large combustion plants. The new specifications were developed through an inclusive, transparent and evidence-based process involving Member States, industry and environmental non-governmental organisations. The specifications set, for the first time at the EU level, limits for the emissions to air of mercury, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride from the combustion of solid fuels in LCPs. They also tighten the existing emission limits for pollutants including sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jacques Dubochet (University of Lausanne, Switzerland), Joachim Frank (Columbia University, USA), and Richard Henderson (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK) for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. Due to this type of microscopy that simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules, researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen, which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.
Source: https://www.nobelprize.org
Making Solar-Driven Chemistry a Reality
Solar-Driven Chemistry is a visionary concept that aims to create chemical reactions by using the energy from the sun in order to guarantee the welfare of future generations. In the follow-up of EuCheMS white paper on Solar-Driven Chemistry, EuCheMS is organising a meeting on 16 October with European national funders and EU officials in order to promote this topic as a EU-wide priority. EuCheMS will also be presenting this topic at the EU Pavilion at COP23, 6 – 17 November, Bonn. COP (conference of parties) is the annual meeting organised by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Source: www.euchems.eu
EuCheMS General Assembly 2017
The 2017 EuCheMS General Assembly annual meetings took place in La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, on the 25, 26 and 27 September. This year´s GA was marked, among other, by the signing of the position paper Research and Education Without Borders After Brexit, in which EuCheMS Members stated their support to the continued scientific collaboration between the EU and the UK. It was also noted that significant developments have been achieved within EuCheMS as well as in networking with stakeholders in past years, and many new are planned for the future of European chemistry. The General Assembly was kindly hosted by Società Chimica Italiana. Presentations are available on the indicated website.
Source: http://www.euchems.eu/