Many particularly dangerous substances remain on the market, sometimes for years, while the EU executive does not meet statutory deadlines for authorization decisions.
This was stated by the EU ombudsman Emily O'Reilly, writes Euronews.
She believes that the reason for the systematic delays in making decisions on the permission to use dangerous chemicals is "bad administration" on the part of the European Commission. The ombudsman emphasized that this practice endangers people and ecosystems.
By law, the Commission is obliged to consider a draft decision within 3 months after a request for a permit to continue using a prohibited substance. But the results of the investigation initiated by O'Reilly showed that the EU executive takes on average more than 14 months to make such decisions, and sometimes several years.
Such data did not come as a surprise to activists of environmental campaigns. They have complained for years about the too slow pace of the process of limiting chemicals in the EU.
The ombudsman also criticized the secrecy surrounding the committee. She is sure that the Commission's lack of transparency is also improper administration. According to O'Reilly, public records of the meetings contain little information about the reasons for the delays or the positions of individual governments.
"Such unacceptable behavior undermines the rule of law and people's trust in EU institutions. It's time for EU officials to heed the ombudsman's recommendations and put the public interest ahead of the profits of toxic companies," said Helen Dugy of the legal charity ClientEarth.
Reasons for delays
In the Commission, the very low speed of decision-making on the prohibition of dangerous substances was explained by several factors:
- A complex process prescribed in REACH – the main EU regulation on chemicals.
- European Commission officials "in principle avoid voting [on decisions] if there is no certainty of sufficient support" from the 27 EU member states.
- A limited number of appropriate conference rooms in the premises of the Commission.
In 3 months, the European Commission must give a detailed response to the ombudsman's criticism. Its president, Ursula von der Leyen, has promised to "simplify" regulation during her second term, after being criticized for delaying a planned revision of the REACH regulation during her first term.
Earlier, EcoPolitic reported that in the EU was limited the use of another "eternal chemical". Also in August we told that the Ukrainian market will be freed from particularly dangerous chemicals.
