ECHA adds 35 chemicals to the Prior Informed Consent Regulation

On 25 August 2023, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) announced that an amendment, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/1656, has been made adding 35 additional hazardous chemicals to the EU’s Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation. The amendment enters into force on 15 September 2023 and will apply from 1 November 2023.

Added chemicals

The 35 chemicals that were added to Annex I of the PIC Regulation include 27 pesticides and 8 industrial chemicals. The full list of chemicals can be seen below. These chemicals will require export notification and in addition most of them will also require an explicit consent from the importing country before exports can take place. The IT tool ePIC has been updated accordingly and companies can already start notifying their exports. 

* Sub-category: p(1) — pesticide in the group of plant protection products, p(2) — other pesticide including biocides. i(1) — industrial chemical for professional use and i(2) — industrial chemical for public use.

** Use limitation: sr — severe restriction, b — ban (for the sub-category or sub-categories concerned)

In addition to the 35 new entries to Annex I, four chemicals (triflumuron, cyfluthrin, chlorfenvinphos, and terbufos) that were previously subject only to an export notification, will now also require an explicit consent (i.e. they have been added to Part 2 of Annex I). 

Furthermore, it was decided at the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Rotterdam Convention to include decabromodiphenyl ether and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), its salts and PFOA-related compounds in Annex III of that Convention. That means that those chemicals are now subject to the PIC procedure under the Rotterdam Convention. Consequently, those chemicals will be deleted from Part 2 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 (the PIC Regulation) and instead added to Part 3 of Annex I. The entries in Part 3 are subject to the export notification requirement, and additionally to the explicit consent, except where an import response is published in the PIC circular of the Rotterdam Convention, and certain criteria are met.

Prior Informed Consent Regulation

The PIC Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 649/2012) implements the Rotterdam Convention within the EU. It promotes shared responsibility and cooperation in the international trade of hazardous chemicals. It also protects human health and the environment by providing importing countries with information on how to store, transport, use and dispose of hazardous chemicals safely.

It governs the trade of certain hazardous chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the EU. It places obligations on companies that wish to export these chemicals to non-EU countries or import them into the EU.

The European Commission updates PIC Annex I, which lists the chemicals subject to export notification and explicit consent from the importing country. It now includes 295 entries.