European Minister calls for nanotechnology legislation in support of industries
Released on Friday 13th February 2009
Carl Schlyter, rapporteur of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), is sceptical ‘regarding the Commission’s review that says, in general, current legislation is satisfactory but implementation should be improved’, according to an article by CosmeticsDesignEurope.
The article notes Schlyter’s believe that ‘[i]ndustry stands to benefit [...] from clearer legislation.’ “Nano-specific legislation will give the industry a more concrete view of what constitutes a nanomaterial, and what scientific data they need to provide,” he told CosmeticsDesign. ‘If concrete nano-specific legislation is not introduced, companies may be asked to provide more safety information late in a product’s development, not only is this difficult for a company to manage, it is not always transparent,’ he explained.
According to CosmeticsDesign, ‘[t]he MEP is calling for nanoparticles to be defined as any material in the order of 100nm, or materials whose properties have been significantly changed due to their size. [...] Schlyter’s draft report will be discussed by the European Parliament and a final report released mid April.’
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) of the European Parliament has released a Draft Report on regulation aspects of nanomaterials (2008/2208(INI)). The report puts forward a number of bullet points forming a Motion for a European Parliament Resolution on regulatory aspects of nanomaterials, [...]. (23rd January 2009)
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament has published a Draft Opinion on Regulatory Aspects of Nanomaterials. The Draft Opinion is addressed to the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety of the European Parliament; [...] (15th October 2008)
The Council of the European Union, during its 2891st Council meeting on Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry and Research) (held on the 25th and 26th September 2008 in Brussels) adopted a set of conclusions in the field of research concerning Nanosciences and Nanotechnolgies: '[…] (26th September 2008)