Beuc Makes Complaint on Delayed Cosmetics EDCs Review

European consumer organisation, Beuc, has filed a complaint with the EU ombudsman about the Commission’s failure to complete a review of substances with endocrine disrupting properties under the cosmetics Regulation.

In its complaint, dated 30 November, the NGO calls for the European Commission to complete the review "without further delay".

Article 15(4) of the Regulation instructs the Commission to do this, when community or internationally agreed criteria for identifying such substances are available, or at the latest by 11 January 2015.

However, there have been significant hold ups and in a European Parliament Q&A session on 8 July 2016, Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said it would complete the work and communicate its results "before end-2016".

Then, at the meeting of the working group on cosmetic products on 14 March, the Commission said a draft report on the evaluation of the Regulation regarding endocrine disruptors "was prepared in view of its adoption by the college [a team of 28 EU Commissioners] by the end of 2016". It said it is "still examining [this] and its adoption was postponed in light of the ongoing discussions on the scientific criteria for the definition" under the biocidal products Regulation (BPR) and plant protection products (PPP) Regulation.

At a further working group meeting in July, the Commission "could not provide further information", Beuc says.

On 17 November, the EU executive published its delegated Regulation setting out the criteria for identifying EDCs under the BPR. The criteria will apply from 7 June 2018. Unlike in the case of the PPP, the European Parliament and Council did not block its entry into force. The PPP proposal was vetoed in October, sending the Commission back to the drawing board.

Beuc says the ongoing discussions "do not justify" the Commission’s decision to postpone the cosmetics Regulation EDC review.

This is because the "specific formulation" of Article 15(4) of that Regulation, as well as "the absence of a legal reference" to either the PPP or the BPR, "demonstrates that the EDC review obligation exists in its own right and independent of the Commission’s obligation to develop the criteria in other sectors", it says.

Once the Commission completes this, it should, where appropriate, "propose amendments to the cosmetics Regulation to ensure a high level of consumer protection against substances with endocrine-disrupting properties".

Failure to conduct the review "may create unnecessary risks" for consumers, the NGO says, adding that the postponement "directly conflicts" with the high level of protection sought by the legislator. "Political concerns rather than legitimate scientific or technical reasons would thus appear to dictate the delay."

Direct exposure

Since January 2015, Beuc says it has repeatedly raised concerns about this and adds that sufficient evidence links EDCs to a range of severe diseases and disorders, including infertility and cancer.

Cosmetics and personal care products, the NGO says, are "major direct sources" of consumer exposure to potential EDCs, including for vulnerable groups, such as:

> pregnant and breastfeeding women;

> children; and

> persons with compromised immune responses.

"The failure to complete the EDC review may therefore endanger the health of millions of consumers across the EU," Beuc says.

Chemical Watch contacted the Commission for a comment but it did not respond in time for publication.