# 6.5. Regulatory Frameworks

Regulatory frameworks

Authors: Charles Bodar and Joop de Knecht

Reviewers: Kees van Gestel

Learning objectives:

You should be able to

- explain how the potential environmental risks of chemicals are legally being controlled in the EU and beyond
- mention the different regulatory bodies involved in the regulation of different categories of chemicals
- explain the purpose of the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) approach and its difference with the risk assessment of chemicals

Keywords: chemicals, environmental regulations, hazard, risk

Introduction

There is no single, overarching global regulatory framework to manage the risks of all chemicals. Instead, different regulations or directives have been developed for different categories of chemicals. These categories are typically related to the usage of the chemicals. Important categories are industrial chemicals (solvents, plasticizers, etc.), plant protection products, biocides and human and veterinary drugs. Some chemicals may belong to more than one category. Zinc, for example, is used in the building industry, but it also has biocidal applications (antifouling agent) and zinc oxide is used as a veterinary drug. In the European Union, each chemical category is subject to specific regulations or directives providing the legal conditions and requirements to guarantee a safe production and use of chemicals. A key element of all legal frameworks is the requirement that sufficient data on a chemical should be made available. Valid data on production and identity (e.g. chemical structure), use volumes, emissions, environmental fate properties and the (eco)toxicity of a chemical are the essential building blocks for a sound assessment and management of environmental risks. Rules for the minimum data set that should be provided by the actors involved (e.g. producers or importers) are laid down in various regulatory frameworks. With this data, both hazard and risk assessments can be carried out according to specified technical guidelines. The outcome of the assessment is then used for risk management, which is focused on minimizing any risk by taking measures, ranging from requests for additional data to restrictions on the particular use or a full-scale ban of a chemical.

REACH

REACH is a regulation of the European Union, adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals, while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. The REACH regulation entered into force on 1st June 2007 to streamline and improve the former legislative frameworks on new and existing chemical substances. It replaced approximately forty community regulations and directives by one single regulation.

REACH establishes procedures for collecting and assessing information on the properties, hazards and risks of substances. REACH applies to a very broad spectrum of chemicals: from industrial to household applications, and very much more. It requires that EU manufacturers and importers register their chemical substances if produced or imported in annual amounts of > 1 tonne, unless the substance is exempted from registration under REACH. At quantities of > 10 tonnes, the manufacturers, importers, and down-stream users are responsible to show that their substances do not adversely affect human health or the environment.

The amount of standard information required to show safe use depends on the quantity of the substance that is manufactured or imported. Before testing on vertebrate animals like fish and mammals, the use of alternative methods must be considered. The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) coordinates and facilitates the REACH program. For production volumes above 10 tonnes per year, industry has to prepare a risk assessment, taking into account all risk management measures envisaged, and document this in a chemical safety assessment (CSA). A CSA should include an exposure assessment, hazard or dose-response assessment, and a risk characterization showing risks ratios below 1.0, i.e. safe use (see sections on REACH Human and REACH Eco).

Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP)

The EU CLP regulation requires manufacturers, importers or downstream users of substances or mixtures to classify, label and package their hazardous chemicals appropriately before placing them on the market. When relevant information (e.g. ecotoxicity data) on a substance or mixture meets the classification criteria in the CLP regulation, the hazards of a substance or mixture are identified by assigning a certain hazard class and category. An important CLP hazard class is ‘Hazardous to the aquatic environment’, which is divided into categories based on the criteria, for example, Category Acute 1, representing the most (acute) toxic chemicals (LC50/EC50 ≤ 1 mg/L). CLP also sets detailed criteria for the labelling elements, such as the well-known pictograms (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Pictogram used to indicate hazardousness to the environment. (source: https://www.pictogrammenwinkel.nl/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5988, with permission)

Plant protection products regulation

Plant protection products (PPPs) are pesticides that are mainly used to keep crops healthy and prevent them from being damaged by disease and infestation. They include among others herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, acaricides, plant growth regulators and repellents (see section on Crop Protection Products). PPPs fall under the EU Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 which determines that PPPs cannot be placed on the market or used without prior authorization. The European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) coordinates the EU regulation on PPPs.

Biocides regulation

The distinction between biocides and PPP is not always straightforward, but as a general rule of thumb the PPP regulation applies to substances used by farmers for crop protection while the biocides regulation covers all other pesticide applications. Different applications of the same active ingredient, one as a PPP and the other as a biocide, may thus fall under different regulations. Biocides are used to protect humans, animals, materials or articles against harmful organisms like pests or bacteria, by the action of the active substances contained in the biocidal product. Examples of biocides are antifouling agents, preservatives and disinfectants.

According to the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR), all biocidal products require an authorization before they can be placed on the market, and the active substances contained in the biocidal product must be previously approved. The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) coordinates and facilitates the BPR. More or less similar to other legislations, for biocides the environmental risk assessment is mainly performed by comparing compartmental concentrations (PEC) with the concentration below which unacceptable effects on organisms will most likely not occur (PNEC).

Veterinary and human pharmaceuticals regulation

Since 2006, EU law requires an environmental risk assessment (ERA) for all new applications for a marketing authorization of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals. For both products, guidance documents have been developed for conducting an ERA based on two phases. The first phase estimates the exposure of the environment to the drug substance. Based on an action limit the assessment may be terminated. In the second phase, information about the fate and effects in the environment is obtained and assessed. For conducting an ERA a base set, including ecotoxicity data, is required. For veterinary medicines, the ERA is part of a risk-benefit analysis, in which the positive therapeutic effects are weighed against any environment risks, whereas for human medicines the environmental concerns are excluded from the risk-benefit analysis. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines in the EU.

Harmonization of testing

Testing chemicals is an important aspect of risk assessment, e.g. testing for toxicity, for degradation or for a physicochemical property like the Kow (see Chapter 3). The outcome of a test may vary depending on the conditions, e.g. temperature, test medium or light conditions. For this reason there is an incentive to standardize the test conditions and to harmonize the testing procedures between agencies and countries. This would also avoid duplication of testing, and leading to a more efficient and effective testing system.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) assists its member governments in developing and implementing high-quality chemical management policies and instruments. One of the key activities to achieve this goal is the development of harmonized guidelines to test and assess the risks of chemicals leading to a system of mutual acceptance of chemical safety data among OECD countries. The OECD also developed Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) to ensure that studies are of sufficient quality and rigor and are verifiable. The OECD also facilitates the development of new tools to obtain more safety information and maintain quality while reducing costs, time and animal testing, such as the OECD QSAR toolbox.