General Court of the European Union rules BPA as substance of high concern

The General Court of the European Union has dismissed a challenge from PlasticsEurope, and has upheld that BPA is a Substance of Very High Concern under REACH legislation.

BPA was added to the list of Substances of Very High Concern in January 2017, but PlasticsEurope took the European Chemical Agency to court over the matter.

The General Court, said: “In today’s judgement, the General Court notes that a substance used as on-site isolated intermediate or as a transported isolated intermediate is not automatically exempted from all the provisions of the REACH Regulation.”

“Such a substance does not, therefore escape the identification procedure provided for in that regulation. The exemption laid down in Article 2(8)(b) of the REACH Regulation concerns only the authorisation procedure.”

“By contrast, the regulation does not preclude a substance from being capable of being identified as being of very high concern, even though it is merely as an on-site or transported isolated intermediate.”

“The General Court notes, furthermore, that nothing obliged ECHA to insert, in the ‘candidate list of substances’, an explicit reference to the fact that intermediate uses were not covered by the inclusion of Bisphenol A in that list.”

“The General Court therefore dismisses the action in its entirety.”

PlasticsEurope said: “We already note that the court’s conclusion is in clear contradiction to the express provisions if the REACH Regulation.”

“PlasticsEurope continues to consider that the REACH Regulation exempts intermediates from the entire authorisation title of REACH, including their inclusion on the candidate list for eventual inclusion in Annex XIV as SVHC.”

“In any event, the General Court’s judgement does not affect the current situation, which is that BPA, whether an intermediate or not, can be lawfully and safely placed on the RU market in compliance with all relevant legislation.”

Apolline Roger, Legal and Policy Advisor at non-profit group ClientEarth, said: “We are glad that the court reminded PlasticsEurope that information is a precondition to environmental and health protection, even for substances like BPA, that are used and supposed to be fully consumed in the production process.”