Environmental Law Lecture series

Welcome to the Environmental Law Lecture series! In this series, environmental law scholars will provide important insights into how EU environmental law helps to achieve a high level of environmental protection in the European Union and beyond.

Fake it ´till you make it: 

Regulatory control of chemical risks in reach

Over the last century, countries of the Western world have transformed into ‘chemical societies’ . And they will pay the price for a long time to come: The overshot planetary boundary for “novel entities” (i.e. man-made substances) illustrates how the chemical pollution crisis creates a societal task just as big and demanding as the climate and biodiversity crises. Based on research published in The Lancet, the World Bank reports that in 2019 exposure to lead alone caused the premature deaths of more than 5.5 million people globally. At the same time, massive amounts of human biomonitoring data on harmful chemicals in the European population show that our bodies are dangerously polluted, and European citizens are deeply concerned about the impact substances present in everyday products can have on their health and the environment. 

This lecture takes a close look at the EU industrial chemicals regulation REACH – the bloc’s regulatory response to chemical risks and threats. Attendees will gain insights into the key mechanisms of REACH, the chances they create and implementation shortcomings.

Watch it here on Youtube if you'd like to access the video transcript or jump chapters.

Key Themes

• Chemicals as a major and growing sustainability challenge: The lecture stresses that the chemical sector is one of Europe’s largest and fastest-growing industrial sectors, heavily reliant on fossil resources. Tens of thousands of chemicals are used in everyday products, and many have hazardous properties. Widespread human and environmental exposure (including through products, not just industrial emissions) contributes to chronic health impacts and to the transgression of planetary boundaries.
• REACH as the core EU regulatory framework: REACH establishes a system of registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals based on the principle “no data, no market”. It places responsibility on producers and importers to generate data and demonstrate risk control before substances are placed on the EU market. The system also aims to enable progressive substitution of substances of very high concern (SVHCs).
• Significant implementation and enforcement shortcomings: In practice, REACH only covers a limited share of chemicals on the EU market (those manufactured or imported above 1 tonne per year), and many registration dossiers lack essential hazard data. The authorization system is slow and rarely leads to an effective phase-out of hazardous substances; restrictions are adopted only for individual substances and uses. National enforcement shows high levels of non-compliance across the supply chain.
• Shift towards group- and product-based approaches to avoid regrettable substitution: Conventional “substance-by-substance” regulation often leads to replacement of banned chemicals by structurally similar and equally hazardous substances (e.g. bisphenol A substituted by other bisphenols). The EU is beginning to move towards group-level restrictions (e.g. PFAS as a chemical family) and to incorporate chemical safety requirements into product policies, such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and digital product passports.
• Policy reform and integration under the Green Deal: The EU Chemical Strategy for Sustainability calls for broad reforms of REACH and the CLP Regulation to align chemicals policy with the Green Deal objective of a non-toxic environment. These reforms include stronger data requirements, polymer registration, speeding up restrictions and group approaches. However, key legal proposals are still pending and face political resistance, especially from parts of industry.

Speakers

Martin Führ

• He is a Professor of Public Law, Legal Theory and Comparative Law at the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences (h_da); where he heads the interdisciplinary research group sofia and the Master's programme "Risk Assessment and Sustainability Management" (RASUM). From 2008 to 2015, he was a member of the Management Board of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), Helsinki. 

Julian Schenten

• He is a Senior Law and Policy Advisor of the Emissions Reduction team at ClientEarth, working on harmful chemicals. He focuses on advocacy, targeted at the improvement and reform of the EU chemicals regulation REACH. Tackling chemicals in product legislation, e.g. in connection with ecodesign, is another of Julian's topics. Julian also provides legal expertise to EDC Free Europe, a coalition of NGOs working for the appropriate control of endocrine disruptors

Lecture Series

This lecture is part of a series that runs from 2023 to 2024, providing students and scholars with core insights into the current state of EU environmental law and how it can be improved to achieve greater environmental protection. All lectures will be recorded and made accessible through YouTube, and the series is freely accessible to all.

If you'd like to know more about the other upcoming lectures:

visit our Events page

This GreenDeal-Net lecture serie is hosted by MCEL, METRO and organised in cooperation with GLaw-Net and GreenDeal-NET. Maastricht University students will be eligible for certificates of attendance (see more information under the registration link).