Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to report parliamentary committee draft

RemovedEXPLANATORY STATEMENT

RemovedAs an essential product of every-day use, the detergents sector is a key pillar for the implementation of the European Green Deal. The manufacturing of detergents secures jobs in Europe and provides consumers with high-quality products. Many companies have already shown that there can be a market for innovative, safe, clean, sustainable and circular products. However, today, market forces and policies do not provide sufficient support for these European frontrunners. There is an obvious and urgent need for more innovation and competition in sustainable detergents in Europe. The Detergents Regulation has so far failed to address this need.

RemovedTherefore the Rapporteur welcomes the proposal by the European Commission for a revision for more innovation, as the inclusion of microbial cleaning products in the scope of the Regulation and the streamlining of information requirements for clearer consumer information, in particular with respect to overlaps with other Union legislation. The Rapporteur also welcomes the proposal for the refill sale of detergents in order to reduce the amount of packaging placed on the market.

RemovedHowever, the Rapporteur also finds that further measures are needed to reach the objectives of the protection of consumers, the environment and animals as well as a European climate neutral, toxic-free and safe circular economy. To this end, the Rapporteur proposes a number of amendments in order to create new opportunities to promote sustainability and increase competition and innovation in sustainable detergents on the European market.

RemovedBiodegradability of detergents

RemovedWith regard to the objective of protecting health and the environment, full biodegradability is the most effective option in the toolbox of the Detergents Regulation. Currently, detergents may contain various substances that are hazardous and persistent in the environment, posing potential risks to ecosystems and animal and human health. While the rapporteur appreciates that certain derogations have been removed from biodegradability criteria, the Commission’s proposal falls short of providing for all detergents to be fully biodegradable. The rapporteur therefore proposes to make all detergents inherently biodegradable, as large European manufacturers have already committed to achieve this. European legislation should not fall behind, but should instead provide incentives for other manufacturers to follow suit and to provide for a level playing field.

RemovedPhosphates and phosphorus content

RemovedPhosphates are a main contributor to the widespread problem of eutrophication across Europe. Municipalities across Europe are investing heavily in downstream solutions to clean wastewater of phosphates. These efforts should be helped by avoiding phosphate emissions into wastewater upstream, where possible. Similarly to the biodegradability requirements, industry is already advancing ahead of European legislation. There are numerous examples of manufacturers that have phased out phosphates in consumer and industrial products a long time ago. In order to further foster innovation in the sector, the thresholds for total phosphorus content in consumer products should be strengthened. Equally, there should be limits for certain industrial products, where current technologies already allow manufacturers to use products with little or no phosphate and other phosphorus substances.

RemovedHazardous substances

RemovedThe Commission’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability clearly spelled out a goal of safe and sustainable products for a toxic-free environment. It provided for concrete measures to tackle the most hazardous substances in consumer products. In particular, the Strategy establishes that the generic approach to risk management will be extended to ensure that consumer products – including, among other things, detergents – do not contain chemicals that cause cancers, gene mutations, affect the reproductive or the endocrine system, or are persistent and bioaccumulative.

RemovedThe Chemicals Strategy was widely welcomed by stakeholders including industry and civil society and the European Parliament. The Parliament has on numerous occasions asked for stricter protection of consumers from hazardous chemicals. The rapporteur therefore proposes to implement the Chemicals Strategy in the Detergents Regulation by prohibiting the use of certain hazardous substances, unless they are technically necessary.

RemovedBetter consumer information

RemovedThe rapporteur believes citizens should be able to make informed decisions while purchasing a product. Therefore products should bear legible, clear and easily understandable labels with the most important information directly on the product. The same should apply to refill products. The proposal by the Commission would need to be amended to ensure consumers are informed of all ingredients, and in particular allergenic substances in physical form, with digital labels providing additional information where necessary.

RemovedThe environmental impact of detergents grows with the amount of detergents consumed. It is therefore important to avoid overconsumption, a key driver of allergies and pollution of this sector. It should be made easier for consumers to use the right dosage, in particular for laundry detergents. The simplification proposed by the Commission is a good first step, but in order to improve consumer information the rapporteur envisages much clearer and better visible measuring indications on the lid of the product and measuring device.

RemovedOnly supplementary information should be available in a digital format only. The digital option should only be seen as a complementary tool and never as the only tool to enable informed consumer choice.

RemovedAnimal Testing

RemovedThe rapporteur strongly believes that it is essential to phase out unnecessary animal testing and as almost a million and a half Europeans have requested in the recent “European Citizens initiative to end animal testing in cosmetics”, to turn towards non-animal approaches to assure the safety of products. In addition, in 2021 the European Parliament voted a Joint Motion for a Resolution on plans and actions to accelerate the transition to innovation without the use of animals in research, regulatory testing and education.

RemovedTherefore, the proposal of the Commission to mandate animal testing for acute toxicity for detergents containing microorganisms is clearly against the position not only of our citizens, but also of industry stakeholders that clearly oppose the demand for animal testing on microorganisms used in spray form as unnecessary. This is also in conflict with the animal protection commitments of industry and European legislators, considering that the Commission has on multiple occasions expressed its commitment to use animal testing as a last resort.

RemovedMoreover, in vivo tests are not suitable for determining the risk to consumers of inhaling aerosols containing micro-organisms and would be an unnecessary use of animals. Consequently, the acute inhalation toxicity test for microbial cleaner sprays should be able to be replaced by alternative new approach methodologies (NAMs), which are more appropriate methods to address potential safety concerns. Such alternative risk-based approaches use benchmarks known to be safe for consumers based on data derived from human data and therefore better reflect the impact on humans directly.

RemovedAlignment with ESPR

RemovedWherever possible, the rapporteur aims to align the provisions of the Detergents Regulation with other relevant EU legislation. In particular the ongoing negotiations on the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation have served as a basis for amendments to the Digital Product Passport in order to ensure full interoperability between different pieces of legislation.