ECHA’s Risk Assessment Committee supports ban on secondary uses of creosote-treated wood

On 8 September 2023, the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) of the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) adopted its opinion supporting France’ proposal to restrict the placing on the market, reuse of wood treated with creosote and related substances and banning the secondary use of such wood. The Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) also lends support to the proposed restriction in their draft opinion. The SEAC draft opinion is open for comments until 7 November 2023.

Understanding creosote

Creosote is a brownish-black oily liquid and is a distillation product of coal tars which themselves are by-products of the high temperature carbonization of bituminous coal. It is a complex mixture of hundreds of distinct substances, including bi- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), phenols as well as heterocyclic, oxygen-, sulphur- and nitrogen-containing substances. On average 35-43 % of creosote remains unidentified.

Creosote is classified as a Category 1B carcinogen under the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation. In addition, the Biocidal Products Committee (BPC) has identified certain components of creosote as carcinogenic, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) as well as very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB).

Creosote is approved under the Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) as an active substance for product-type 8 as a fungicide and insecticide against wood rotting fungi. It has been used to treat e.g. railway sleepers, agricultural fencing, and utility poles.

Current regulations for creosote

In October 2022 the approval of creosote as an active biocidal substance was renewed under the BPR for a maximum of seven years subject to several specific conditions. This approval, effective from 30 April 2023, allows creosote-based biocidal products for railway sleepers and utility poles only. Currently, the EU-REACH regulation permits some reuses and secondary uses of creosote-treated products, a provision challenged by France's proposal.

France’s proposal

The French restriction proposal targets reducing risks to health (in particular to the general public) and the environment associated with the reuse and secondary use of wood treated with creosote and creosote-related substances by amending entry 31 of Annex XVII of the REACH Regulation. As defined by the Dossier Submitter, reuse means the use for the same purpose as the original use (e.g. railway sleepers reused as railway sleepers), secondary use means the use for other purposes than the original use (e.g. railway sleepers used for agricultural fencing, residential landscaping, etc.).

Committee opinions

The RAC concluded in its opinion, that an EU-wide restriction is necessary to minimise environmental emissions and public exposure, as creosote and related substances are carcinogenic, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic and can cause harm at very low levels of exposure.

The committee supports the ban on all secondary uses as safer alternatives are available. It aligns with SEAC’s opinion to allow reuse of creosote-treated railway sleepers and utility poles by all professionals in the same country rather than limiting it to the ‘same original user’ as proposed by France. This approach is expected to lead to greater environmental benefits compared to the purchasing of new creosote-treated wood, which is the most likely alternative. Newly treated wood is expected to leach more than older treated wood.

Additionally, the RAC considers wood creosote, one of the nine substances in France's proposal, as potentially exempt due to different hazardous properties.

Timeline

As mentioned above, the 60-day consultation of the SEAC draft opinion is open until 7 November 2023. It is expected that the committee will adopts its opinion in December 2023.