ECHA Begins Consultations on Proposed Restrictions of BPA and Other Bisphenols and Creosote and Creosote-Related Substances

On December 21, 2022, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) began two public consultations:

• Bisphenol A (BPA) and other bisphenols: Germany has submitted a proposal to restrict the placing on the market of mixtures and articles containing bisphenol A, other bisphenols, and bisphenol derivatives with endocrine-disrupting properties for the environment. The proposed restriction would apply to mixtures and articles where the concentration is equal to or greater than ten parts per million (ppm) (0.001 percent by weight). The restriction would not apply to mixtures and articles where the bisphenols in the scope of the restriction are either covalently bound to any type of matrix (e.g., via functioning as a cross-linker) or are used as intermediates in the manufacture of polymers, and for which contact to aqueous media in any form can be excluded during their reasonable and foreseeable use throughout their service life or the migration limit in the respective mixtures and articles does not exceed 0.04 milligrams per liter (mg/L) over the entire service life.

• Creosote and creosote-related substances: France has submitted a proposal to restrict the placing on the market, re-use, and secondary use of wood treated with creosote or creosote-related substances.

Comments on the proposals are due June 22, 2023. ECHA states that comments submitted by January 25, 2023, will be used by the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) and the Committee for Socio-Economic Analysis (SEAC) in their first discussions of the proposals in March 2023.