12th & 13th March 2007
at Bundespresseamt (Federal Press Office), Berlin
According to REACh, certain dangerous substances may only be used if the substance has been authorised for a specific utilisation. Alongside this authorisation requirement, the proved instruments of substance prohibition and restriction exist. REACh now regulates that, before decisions on authorisations or prohibitions and restrictions are made, impact assessments for the economy and the society have to be undertaken. In this context, also the question, if appropriate substitutes for substances or alternative procedures are available, is important. This affects one of the core issues of the controversy and, ultimately, the compromise between the Council and the European Parliament regarding REACh.
So far, these impact assessments were restricted to the analysis of the immediate economic consequences for the affected sectors of the industry. Impulses that possible restrictive measures may have with regard to economic innovations, in contrast, are disregarded. Furthermore, the savings for the national economies which arise from decreasing expenses in the sector of health or by avoiding remedial actions in the environmental area due to precautionary protection of the environment and human health are not sufficiently taken into account. The socio-economic analysis (SEA), thus, is not perceived by the interested public as an instrument to arrange environmental protection measures in a well-balanced way but to impede them from the outset.
It is therefore urgent that the SEA is established as an instrument which
considers the functioning of the society as a whole and, hence, deals with
environment and human health on the one hand and the economy on the other
hand in a balanced way. The EU-Workshop on “Socio-economic analysis
under REACH regarding authorisations and restrictions” which will
take place within the framework of the German Presidency in the Council
shall contribute to this aim. The participation at this workshop is free
of charge.