U.S. chemical exporters face EEC rule deadline

Abstract

The primary tool in the U.S. for regulating new and existing chemicals is the Toxic Substances Control Act. In the European Economic Community, the comparable tool is the directive commonly referred to as the sixth amendment. The purposes of the regulations are fundamentally the same, as are their requirements for premarket notification. But there are many differences in the way these two work, and these differences are becoming more and more apparent as the sixth amendment is implemented. The sixth amendment, passed on Sept. 18, 1979, recently has entered an important phase, one that is particularly important to U.S. companies that market chemicals in Europe. EEC published its European Core Inventory (ECOIN) March 31, signaling the beginning of a nine-month open period during which companies can add to the inventory compounds that are being marketed in Europe. A time frame, however, is specified for these entries. The substance must have been sold between January 1979 ...