On 8 December, the European Commission adopted a safety and sustainability assessment recommendation created by the High Level Roundtable on the Implementation of the Sustainable Chemicals Strategy – of which EuChemS is an active member of.

The recommendation, titled “Establishing a European assessment framework for ‘safe and sustainable by design’ chemicals and materials” primarily focuses on health and environmental protection from hazardous materials. It lays down a framework to be used in Research and Development, which is expected to define a “safe and sustainable by design” criteria, that will guide consumer and food contact producers amongst others to ensure the safety of their products. Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel and Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius both positively commented on the Commission’s adoption.

The document considers the aims of major EU strategies and frameworks such as the Green Deal and the Sustainable Finance Strategy to connect the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability with them, while also linking it with already existing policy frameworks related to chemistry, such as the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) programme.

The High Level Roundtable on the Implementation of the Sustainable Chemicals Strategy was set up by the Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission. EuChemS was invited to participate in the roundtable in 2021. President Floris Rutjes and Secretary General Nineta Hrastelj represented European chemists in the 3 roundtable meetings (and in the preparations for them) in the past years – and will continue to do so in the future.