The Home Office is today introducing a new bill to improve fire safety in buildings in England and Wales.

Covid-19 Customer Update

Since 1 February 2020, the UK has withdrawn from the EU. The ‘withdrawal agreement’ provides for a transition period ending on 31 December 2020. As of 1 January 2021 there will be broad and far-reaching consequences, regardless of the outcome of ongoing Brexit negotiations. Stakeholders must make sure they are ready for them.

Today, the European Commission adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan - one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal, Europe's new agenda for sustainable growth. 

Further Update on Supply Chain 

Supply Chain Update - Coronavirus

Companies can now start to test ECHA’s SCIP database of products containing Candidate List substances of very high concern. The final database will be launched later this year. Companies will need to submit information to it from January 2021 onwards.

The European Union Chemical Legislation Finder (EUCLEF) is an upcoming online service that will enable companies to find out how their substances are being regulated in the EU and what legal obligations they have. Work is under way and ECHA is planning to launch the service, which will initially cover 40 pieces of EU legislation, in 2020.

The construction industry is getting behind a new scheme designed to simplify and strengthen the construction prequalification process.

Statutory enforcement actions from 1 April 2016 to 30 September 2019.

An EU-wide Forum enforcement project has found significant non-compliance in the classification and labelling of mixtures.

Guidance for manufacturers, importers and distributors. 

Many types of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) are regulated to control the levels of hazardous substances and chemicals they contain and prevent them entering the waste stream with consequential adverse impacts to human and animal health.

A Forum pilot enforcement project in 15 participating countries has found that 12 % of inspected products contain substances of very high concern (SVHCs). The majority (88 %) of suppliers of these products are failing to communicate sufficient information to their customers about SVHCs in products they supply.

The Delivery Report sets out how OPSS protects consumers through robust product regulation, working with local trading standards officers and delivering with partners.

18 substances of very high concern (SVHCs) are recommended to be added to the REACH Authorisation List.

The CARACAL (expert group on CLP) has agreed unanimously to the European Commission’s proposed changes to Annex VIII to CLP. 

Consultation running to change Annex II – format and content of a Safety Data Sheet

The information requirements for the upcoming database on articles containing Candidate List substances (SVHCs) are now published. Companies will need to submit information to the database from January 2021 onward.

British Precast has discovered that a range of imported precast concrete drainage products such as manhole rings, manhole covers, seating rings, corbels and gully raisers are being placed in the UK market without visible proof of third-party verification or assessment of conformity to relevant European and British standards.

Since mid-2015, European Union (EU) Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) have been required to be written in compliance with Annex II of the REACH regulation, Reg. (EC) No 1907/2006, as amended. On 18-19 June 2019, the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement met in Helsinki. Many non-compliance issues were discussed, dealing specifically with SDSs that were found during inspections.

Statutory enforcement actions from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2019.

Templates to help distributors fulfil their obligations under the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulations.

Restrictions on phthalates will come into force on 22 July 2019 for most electrical and electronic equipment (EEE).

A list of new EADs is published Official Journal of the European Union.

The European Union Chemical Legislation Finder (EUCLEF) is an upcoming online service that will enable companies to find out how their substances are being regulated in the EU and what legal obligations they have. Work is under way and ECHA is planning to launch the service, which will initially cover 40 pieces of EU legislation, in 2020.

ECHA has released a new portal that allows companies to prepare and submit information on hazardous mixtures that can be used by poison centres.

Office for Product Safety & Standards

Enforcement and Market Surveillance Annual Report 2017-2018 now available on line

Build UK and the Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) have announced the launch of the first phase of a new pre-qualification (PQ) system designed to reduce inefficiencies that are costing the construction industry up to £1 billion a year.

What you need to know about and do to comply with the law and keep consumers safe.

A list of new EADs is published in the Official Journal of the European Union. 

Inspections for two EU-wide enforcement projects are currently under way to identify hazardous chemicals in consumer products. One project focuses on treated articles and chemical mixtures for consumer and professional uses under the Biocidal Products Regulation. The other targets REACH and CLP obligations for imported products and is performed in cooperation with customs authorities.

ECHA has published Guidance Documents which are available, or will be available, on their website. 

These documents have been developed with the participation of many stakeholders: Industry, Member States and NGOs. The objective of these documents is to facilitate the implementation of CLP by describing good practice on how to fulfil the obligations.

All companies placing chemical substances onto the markets of the European Union and European Economic Area need to prepare for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU. New instructions are now available on ECHA’s website.

The European Commission and ECHA have signed an agreement for the Agency to provide recommendations on a regular basis for occupational exposure limits (OELs) that protect workers exposed to hazardous chemicals. The agreement requires ECHA to assess four to five OELs per year from 2020 onwards.

The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for authorisation now contains 197 substances.

A company director has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for the online sale of products containing prohibited substances.

A new publication outlines your obligations related to products treated with biocides. Next year, an EU harmonised enforcement project will focus on treated articles. Get prepared and read the advice.

In order to ensure the stability of the European standardization system and to provide legal certainty and continuity at technical and policy level to all the experts contributing to the development of European standards, CEN and CENELEC agreed, at their General Assemblies of 23 November, to apply a transition period from the date of Brexit (expected to be 29 March 2019) until 31 December 2020.

The European Commission communicated 22 new references to EADs (European Assessment Documents) in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)

The withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) will take effect from 30 March 2019.

If your company is established in the EU-27/EEA, you will be affected whenever your supply chains as a customer or supplier extend to the UK.

The European Commission communicated 6 new references to EADs (European Assessment Documents) in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ)

The UK government has prepared guidance information in the event of a no deal Brexit

CEN/TC 351 'Construction Products - Assessment of release of dangerous substances' is devoted to developing modular horizontal test methods. 'Horizontal' in this case means that these methods can be used for a wide range of materials and products with certain properties, whereas 'modular' means that a test standard developed with this approach concerns a specific step in assessing a property instead of the whole chain of measurement (from sampling to analyses). This approach aims at avoiding work duplication's within different Technical Committees that focus on specific products.

Registration numbers have been granted to 32 515 dossiers out of the 33 363 dossiers that were submitted by the final REACH registration deadline on 31 May. 

Containing the list of workplace exposure limits for use with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended)

the list of workplace exposure limits for use with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended)

The European Commission communicated 6 new references to EADs (European Assessment Documents) in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ).

Construction product manufacturers must comply with the Construction Products Regulation (CPR - 305/2011) and deliver a Declaration of Performance (DoP) to the market according to harmonized standards (hENs).

In several cases, this will represent very detailed information being made available and exploited to its full potential. The goal is to promote CE marking for construction products through the optional use of an electronic declaration of performance. 

ECHA will establish a new database on the presence of hazardous chemicals in articles by the end of 2019 for waste treatment operators and consumers.

The Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) for authorisation now contains 191 substances.

A new enforcement project on online sales will be carried out in 2020. It will likely include restrictions and labelling duties. The report of the REF-5 project checking the safety of the working environment is under preparation.

31 May 2018 marked the end of the 10-year period for registering existing chemicals under EU's Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). 13,620 European companies have submitted information to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on 21,551 chemicals manufactured or imported in the EU and EEA at above one tonne a year.

Today EU Member States approved a set of ambitious measures to make EU waste legislation fit for the future, as part of the EU's wider circular economy policy.

An enforcement project checking online advertisements for hazardous chemical mixtures finds a significant number with no hazard statements. Administrative orders, fines and criminal complaints have been undertaken.

The first list of references of harmonised standards in support of Regulation (EU) 2016/425 on personal protective equipment was published in the Official Journal (OJ) of the European Union C 113 of 27 March 2018 (172 references) together with the updated list of references of harmonised standards in support of Directive 89/686/EEC on personal protective equipment (10 new references).

This circular letter informs building control bodies about the amended Approved Document L1B and the Domestic Building Services Compliance Guide

ECHA has launched a new dedicated website to make consumers more aware of the benefits and risks of chemicals in their everyday lives.

Helsinki, 15 March 2018 – Are the chemicals used in tattoos safe? Will I get an allergic reaction if I dye my hair? Many consumers in Europe are concerned about the possible risks posed by chemicals in their lives – a 2016 Eurobarometer study of almost 28 000 people in 28 countries showed that 65 % of respondents were concerned about being exposed to hazardous chemicals.

The updated lists of references of harmonised standards were published in the Official Journal of the European Union (C 92, 9 March 2018) in support of Directive 2014/53/EU on radio equipment (3 new references), Directive 2006/42/EU on machinery (20 new references), Directive 2014/34/EU on equipment for explosive atmospheres (ATEX) (2 new references), Regulation (EU) No 305/2011 on construction products (3 new references), Commission regulation (EU) No 206/2012 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 626/2011 on ecodesign and energy labelling of air conditioners and comfort fans (2 new references), and Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on the new legislative framework (3 new references).

BSI Code of Practice will help businesses understand what to do if their product needs to be recalled.

For the last 10 years, the key EU law on chemicals ("REACH") has significantly enhanced the protection of human health and the environment and promoted alternatives to animal testing. Building on this, the Commission today proposes actions to further facilitate its implementation.

The German environment agency (UBA) has released a report critiquing the European Commission’s draft proposal on how to communicate the indoor emissions of hazardous substances from construction products.

7 new references to EADs (European Assessment Documents) were cited in the Official Journal of the European Union (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/oj/direct-access.html).

Following the requests from the European Commission, ECHA has started to prepare restriction proposals for oxo-plastics and for intentionally added microplastic particles to consumer or professional use products of any kind.

Based upon research by Loughborough University the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (iosh) has published a guidance document for the construction and demolition industry regarding nano-materials.

Hazardous chemicals in the workplace will be at the core of EU-Osha's next two-year Healthy Workplaces Campaign (HWC), which officially begins in April next year.

The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) agreed on proposed restrictions on diisocyanates and on lead stabilisers in PVC articles. RAC also endorsed the joint ECHA/RAC-SCOEL Task Force report on scientific methods to assess exposure to chemicals at the workplace.

The HSE is consulting on the implementation of new and revised Indicative Occupational Exposure Limit Values (IOELVs) for thirty-one chemical substances to help protect workers from the ill-health effects of exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace.

Independent research has found that 95% of company conflict mineral policies are not aligned with the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains. 

These new EADs provide methods and criteria for assessing the performance of construction products via the ETA route

The European Automotive Industries Association (Acea) has developed a list of unique substance identifiers missing from the REACH candidate list.

The European Commission launched the pilot phase of Level(s), a new EU framework for sustainable buildings which will help transform the building sector. It is the first tool of this kind that has been developed for use across the whole of Europe.

BSI, the business standards company, has revised its standard for fire detection and fire alarm systems.

Effective 1^st October 2017: Benchmark Certification Limited and Network VEKA Limited removed

Effective 28^th February 2018: BM Trada Certification Limited are substituted by Assure Certification Limited

If you supply chemical products to the European market, you should be aware that last week the European Commission made significant amendments to the Appendices to Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation. Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1510

Under the Construction Products Directive (CPD - 89/106/EEC) EOTA had developed European Technical Approvals Guidelines (ETAGs) which need to be developed in EADs in the sense of the Regulation (EU) No 305/2011

Earlier this year UL Safeware Quasar advised that Inspectors in EU Member States would be investigating the quality of Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) as they launched their fifth REACH Enforcement Project (REF-5) in January 2017. 

If you are a chemical company supplying products online, you should be aware of this important notice. The European Commission (EC) has this month issued guidelines to help national market surveillance authorities better control products sold online. With the majority of Europeans now buying products online and getting items shipped directly to their door, the Commission has raised concerns over the compliance of these products, and is assisting Member State authorities in the enforcement of relevant EU legislation.

Local stakeholders in the construction and waste sectors are coming together with the European Commission in Portugal, Ireland, Croatia, Slovakia, Romania and Spain to discuss construction & demolition waste, and in particular the management of it.

The online Single Market Scoreboard, published today (6^th July 2017), shows that whilst most barriers to the free movement of persons, services, goods and capital are being eliminated, in some fields the situation is stalling or even worsening.

ECHA has published a comprehensive update to its Guidance on requirements for substances in articles. It gives more clarity on the communication and notification obligations of companies when substances of very high concern are contained in articles.

ECHA publishes a new website that gives citizens, workers and professionals access to information on nanomaterials on the EU market in 23 languages.

On 1 June 2017, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is 10 years old. ECHA has been working to protect human health and the environment from the toxic effects of chemicals, promote their safe use, control the most dangerous ones and encourage innovation.

EU 2017/852 has been published repealing Regulation EC 1102/2008.

This regulation adds to the drive across the European Union as enactment of the Minamata Convention on mercury 2013 to remove mercury and its compounds from the supply chain by placing restriction on the import, use in manufacturing and export of materials and products containing mercury.

17^th May Brussels – The European Parliament publishes regulations laying down due diligence obligations for those businesses importing to the European Union: Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten (their ores) and Gold originating from conflict affected high risk areas.

The Rapid Alert System enables quick exchange of information between 31 European countries and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to health and safety of consumers.

Deadline Before 31st May 2017

Thursday 1st June 2017 is the date set in the Classification, Labelling & Packaging Regulations (CLP) when it will become illegal to supply (chemical) substances and mixtures carrying the old classification system markings on materials such as cements, mortars, grouts, adhesives, sealants, aerosols, paints.

Since 2015 EOTA has been publishing EADs which are cited in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

113 EADs are now cited http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2017.118.01.0043.01.ENG&toc=OJ:C:2017:118:TOC

Restriction proposal adopted on four phthalates.

The Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) agreed on a restriction proposal on four phthalates (DEHP, DBP, DIBP and BBP) in articles and on TDFA in sprays used by the general public. 

Do you market treated articles? For example paints that contain an in-can preservative, timber products treated with fungicide or sofas where the fabric has been treated with a preservative.

This is to reflect  that a number of New Legislative Framework (NLF) alignment Directives concerning: electrical equipment (Low Voltage Directive), pressure equipment (PED), simple pressure vessels (SPVD), equipment for use in potentially explosive atmospheres (ATEX), and lifts (LD) have now been implemented in to UK Law.

In Annex XVII to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, the following entry is added:

Entry No 67

Bis(pentabromophenyl)ether (decabromodiphenyl ether; decaBDE) CAS No 1163-19-5, EC No 214-604-9

A new product group "Wood-, Cork- and Bamboo-based Floor Coverings" is replacing the previous criteria for "Wooden Floor Coverings", enlarging the scope of floor covering products.

A significant update to the CLP Regulation will see Poison Centre information harmonised across the EU, the addition of a new Annex VIII into the CLP Regulation and is expected to be adopted by the end of February 2017.

ADR is the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road with the 2017 version released online by UNECE (The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) this week.

Research suggests that in Britain nearly 800 people die a year from lung cancer caused by breathing in silica dust at work. In the European Union, around 7,000 cases of lung cancer are caused by this carcinogen annually. Worldwide, it’s estimated that millions of employees are exposed to silica dust.

On 22 November 2016, the EU Institutions reached an agreement on the final shape of an EU Regulation on conflict minerals, which aims to stop the financing of armed groups in developing countries through the trade of the following substances:

Tin [CAS# 7440-31-5]

Tantalum [CAS# 7440-25-7]

Tungsten [CAS# 7440-33-7]

Gold [CAS# 7440-57-5]

The agreement on the Regulation, brokered by the EU Commission, will ensure that the vast majority of these minerals and metals imported to the EU are sourced responsibly.

EOTA, through its Members (TABs), provides for the necessary tools to individually assess construction products with regard to their reaction and resistance to fire. Therefore, EOTA is pleased to be supporting the involvement in Fire Safety as being a major issue for coordinated action in Europe.

Updated interactive Guide on safety data sheets and exposure scenarios available.

The Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC) together with the Dutch ministry of Labour (labour inspection) have published guidance for National Labour Inspectors on addressing risks to workers from exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) on construction sites.

The EU’s Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Regulation establishes rules for the import of timber products covered by Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) between the EU and timber-exporting countries. Once VPAs are fully implemented, timber-exporting countries will issue FLEGT licenses which verify the timber’s legality.

This update of the Guidance on labelling and packaging in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 consists of a full revision of the guidance.

The European Commission has recently amended the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation, updating the list of substances with a harmonised classification. Companies have to apply the revised classifications for the safe use of these chemicals by 1 March 2018 at the latest. EU 2016/1179

Methylisothiazolinone [CAS# 2682-20-4] a.k.a MIT

The Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) has concluded that current clinical data indicates that the concentration of 100 ppm of Methylisothiazolinone in cosmetic products is not safe for the consumer.

BSI, as the UK’s National Standards Body appointed by the UK Government, is a Member of CEN and CENELEC and has issued a statement stating that they see no change to BSI’s status and obligations as a full member of CEN and CENELEC in light of BREXIT.  

1^st July 2016 the Control of Electro Magnetic Fields at Work Regulations (2016) come in to force.

An enforcement project has shown that a high proportion of products with hazardous chemicals that should be sold in packaging with child resistant fastenings and can be found on supermarket shelves in the EU, do not comply with the CLP requirements and do not adequately protect children.

All EU manufacturers, importers and distributors of chemical substances, mixtures and certain articles must apply CLP labelling to new production and support the supply with a CLP format SDS.

On May 13th, the European Commission presented a draft for a revised Directive for the protection of workers against the exposure to carcinogens and mutagens at the workplace.

The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers welcomes the proposal, but has made additional requests in a policy paper available in five languages regarding a number of carcinogens and the inclusion of reprotoxicants into the scope of the Directive.

Based on input from scientists, employers, workers, Member States' representatives and labour inspectors, the Commission has proposed limit values for 13 of a list of priority chemical agents identified through the consultation process. For the remaining chemical agents there is additional analysis to be done and a proposal for limit values will follow by end 2016.

The Rapid Alert System enables quick exchange of information between 31 European countries and the European Commission about dangerous non-food products posing a risk to health and safety of consumers.

The PPE Directive was one of the first New Approach Directives and is now over 20 years old. in order to reflect current technologies and processes for developing and bringing PPE to the market, it is in the process of being superseded by a new PPE Regulation (EU) 2016/425.

The Low Voltage Directive (LVD) 2006/95/EC ensures that electrical equipment within certain voltage limits provides a high level of protection for European citizens, and benefits fully from the Single Market. However, as of 20 April, 2016, this Directive will be repealed by the new LVD Directive 2014/35/EU.

All HM Government construction tenders need to demonstrate BIM Level 2
after 4 April 2016

A short guide for users of chemicals in the workplace on how to get the most from the classification and labelling information you receive

For over a year SIG Assured has established itself in the industry as an important resource for contractors and continues to grow in strength.

The new sentencing guidelines for health & safety offences are in force from today, 1 February 2016. They were intended to increase the level of fines, particularly for larger organisations. However, unintended consequences of the way punishments are now calculated mean that judges will be forced to hand out very much greater fines than expected and send many more directors, managers and junior employees to jail for breaching health & safety laws.

4,615 skills cards revoked after 'dodgy' safety tests.  Thousands of industry skills cards have been revoked following fraud at five test centres.

ECHA have changed the manner in which information on chemicals is presented

The third REACH-EN-FORCE project by ECHA's Enforcement Forum shows that 13 % of inspected companies have missed some of their REACH registration duties. Only representatives and importers are more at risk of non-compliance than manufacturers of substances.

ECHA has published an update of Chapter R.12 of the Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment (IR&CSA) on use description.

ECHA has published a corrigendum to the Guidance on the compilation of safety data sheets to correct the quotation of the legal text of Regulation (EU) 2015/830 and the highlighting of the new legal text in some of the translated versions. Minor editorial corrections have also been made in all language versions (except Danish).

At its November meeting, the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement decided on two new pilot projects for 2016 and 2017.

Following the judgement of the Court of Justice, ECHA will update its Guidance on requirements for substances in articles in two stages.

CE marking for construction products 'step-by-step' guide now available in all EU languages

ECHA/NA/15/31 - If you use a substance for which an actor up your supply chain has an authorisation, you have to notify your use of that substance to ECHA.

The European Chemical Agency (ECHA) has produced new support pages and concise guidance regarding chemical safety in the EU supply chain.

Construction companies are being urged to check their rebar stocks following the latest warning over the quality of Chinese imports.

Manufacturers of construction products need to be aware of the following areas of obligation under these Regulations