MCEC NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2021

As autumn comes and summer goes, will microbial control technologies be considered friends or foes?

Dear Reader,

By now you have probably gathered that the European Commission is serious about its commitment to achieving ambitions set out in the EU Green Deal, and the regulatory reality for the chemical industry is going to change in the coming years.

Building on activities undertaken earlier in the year, several noteworthy initiatives have been launched in recent months. First of all, the consultation for the revision of the Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) was launched this summer. We look in more depth at this development in the first article of this newsletter.

In addition, EU authorities are also directing their attention towards revision of sector-specific legislation: in September, the forthcoming revision of the Cosmetic Products Regulation (CPR) and details of the scope of the revision of the Detergent Products Regulation (DPR) were announced.

Where the CPR is concerned, the Commission’s ambition is to “improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the current rules on cosmetic products”, though no specific details are presently available. A roadmap document, which will define the scope of forthcoming changes, is expected imminently and the legislative proposal – the draft law – that would amend the existing regulation is now planned for Q4 2022.

The Commission’s objective regarding the revision of the DPR is clearer: to enhance clarity on which products fall under the scope of the DPR, REACH, CLP or the Biocidal Products Regulation, to avoid inconsistencies and overlaps. The roadmap document was published on 21 September and a 4-week consultation is running until 19 October. The legislative proposal to amend the DPR is also planned for Q4 2022.

MCEC continues to engage with EU decision makers to raise awareness of the benefits of microbial control. This will become even more important as legislative proposals are tabled and amendments are debated.

José Mosquera

MCEC President, Global Strategy and Growth Leader for IFF’s Microbial Control Business.

Want to explore microbial control benefits? More on our Website, Twitter or LinkedIn

EU Commission moving forward on revising the classification of chemicals

In August, the European Commission launched a detailed public consultation questionnaire on the revision of the EU legislation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP). This follows the initial consultation to which MCEC provided comments covering aspects related to the microbial control sector. The latest questionnaire addresses important issues linked to the impact of potential new classification criteria on the existing regulatory framework for chemicals. MCEC is working on its contribution to the consultation, which has a deadline of 15 November, in coordination with Cefic.

Germany restricts self-service sales of certain biocides

In September, the German government published a new ordinance covering the legal implementation of the country’s national rules for biocides. This goes over and beyond the EU Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) and imposes a national ban on the self-service sale of several types of biocidal products. The national ordinance will take effect on 1 January 2025. It is unclear at this stage if other EU Member States will follow a similar approach.

Commission report to the Council on the BPR implementation

Following the publication of the Report on the implementation of the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR), representatives from EU Member States’ Environment Ministries discussed the current situation of the Review Programme with the Commission during an EU Environment Council meeting on 6 October. Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius highlighted the “very slow progress” – only 35 percent complete – in the review of existing biocidal substances, as required by the BPR.

Despite national authorities identifying a “serious lack of resources at national level” as a main reason for the delay, Commissioner Sinkevičius reminded delegates that the Commission had invited Member States to review the fees that they collect from applicants to cover the costs related to the BPR procedures.

Taking stock and expanding the digital reach of MCEC

At the start of 2021, MCEC embarked on a mission to grow its audiences on social media as per its new strategy adopted the year before. For Twitter, the goal was to grow from 56 to 80 followers by the end of 2021, and for LinkedIn from 356 to 500. We are only just entering the fourth quarter of this year, and we already have – at the time of writing – 84 and 443 followers, respectively. This means we must be doing something right!

Not only are our numbers increasing, but the engagement rates with MCEC content also remain above the industry average. This essentially means that people like our posts, follow the links, and repost or retweet them further. This encourages us to believe that we are addressing our audience with the right content. Thanks to those of you who have followed us and re-shared our posts and tweets. We really appreciate it!

To shed some light on the type of content we share, our group posts regularly on the benefits microbial control technologies have to offer, how antimicrobials contribute to sustainability, as well as our views on the EU regulatory landscape for biocides and chemicals. If this sounds of interest to you, make sure you join us on LinkedIn and/or Twitter and help us share our common messages. Together we can have a stronger impact. We look forward to engaging with you there!

Contact

The Microbial Control Executive Council, or MCEC, is an initiative of the world’s leading companies developing and supplying microbial control technology and solutions. It was established in 2012 in order to promote the safe and effective use of microbial control technologies, and to create a reference point for stakeholders and the public alike to understand the benefits of microbial control technologies and the steps being taken to ensure the use of more sustainable biocides across all applications.

MCEC member companies, BASF, IFF, ICL, LANXESS, Lonza and Troy Corporation, are committed to the betterment of public health and wellbeing through the advancement of sustainable microbial control technologies.

To learn more, follow us on Twitter, visit our website and our LinkedIn page.

For more information, do not hesitate to contact us at info@microbial-control.com

This email was sent to you by the Microbial Control Executive Council, a sector group of the European Chemical Industry Council – Cefic

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