CETOP lobbies to delay legal obligations related to the SCIP database

23 Oct 2020

CETOP was one of 40 signatories to the following letter to the EU Commission, dated 21 September 2020:

Dear Madam, President von der Leyen,

RE: Call for Urgent Action to Postpone the Legal Obligations Related to the SCIP Database

We, the 40 signatories of this letter representing a very significant part of the European economy, fully support the Commission’s ambition to realise a circular European economy as expressed in the European Green Deal. We are therefore addressing you personally to call for action on the negative consequences for the European circular economy, caused by the upcoming requirements set by Article 9 of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and here in particular the Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) Database.

Since 2018 we have repeatedly expressed serious concerns regarding the workability, proportionality and value of this database. So far, our concerns as raised with European Commission (DG ENV and DG GROW) and the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) have had no effect. Therefore, we now address you as the Commission President and call for urgent political action.

In order to avoid undermining the Commission’s own Better Regulation principles and support the trust in the European regulatory process, we urge you to take measures to:

  1. Postpone the notification deadline of 5 January 2021 to at least 12 months after the finalization of the database;
  2. Ensure that the European Commission conducts a study on usefulness, feasibility, proportionality and impact of the SCIP database, and;
  3. Instruct ECHA to adapt SCIP according to the outcome of this study.

We invite you to read the details in the annex available at the end of this letter.

We will follow up directly with your Cabinet to discuss what possibilities and powers the Commission President can make use of to resolve this difficult situation. A copy of this letter will be sent to the EU Commissioners Sinkevičius and Breton as well as to Executive Vice President Timmermans.

Yours sincerely,

More details are included in the annex of the letter, which can be downloaded here.

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