New regulatory legislation to add costs to chemical exports to EU

The $35-billion Indian chemical industry that exports products to European countries may soon find the cost of doing business increasing because of new legislation adopted by the EU to regulate the end-use of chemicals.

Indian chemical exports to Europe total around $2 billion per annum and the industry is worried about the impact of the new legislation that aims to manage risks from the use of chemical substances.

Complying with the new regime under the legislation would involve various processes including registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals.

According to Derek Knight, senior scientific adviser to the European Chemicals Agency steps are needed to regulate the use of substances potentially harmful to humans and the environment and it was imperative that action was taken urgently.

Knight said it would add to the cost for companies, but the main idea was to make these products and their use environment and human-friendly.

Currently around 50,000 chemical substances are covered under the ambit of the legislation including petrochemicals and agro-chemicals, however pharmaceuticals are not covered by the latest legislation, experts say.