In a tragic move, the European Commission has decided not to establish a mandatory EU-wide nanoregistry according to Chemical Watch. This means that there will not be mandatory reporting obligations for manufacturers of nanomaterials and nanoproducts despite numerous calls for transparency from EU Member States, NGOs and academics about who is producing what on an EU-wide level, how much is produced and what it is used for. This information is vital for any kind of risk assessment.

The Commission furthermore failed to introduce new REACH information requirements for nanomaterials in time for them to affect the final 2018 substance registrations due for substances produced in quantities of 1-100 tonnes. We know that there are numerous nanomaterials produced in the EU, but so far less than 20 have been registered during the first two REACH registrations for substances produced in volumes of more than 1000 tonnes and between 100-1000 tonnes. The assumption was that the limited number of registrations were due to many nanomaterials being produced in small volumes. Not implementing new REACH information requirements for nanomaterials now means that an opportunity has been lost of obtaining nanospecific information that would enable nanospecific risk assessment and risk management of nanomaterials.

For more information, see

https://chemicalwatch.com/45776/commission-rejects-idea-of-eu-nano-register