NIA Members and the wider nano community came together in Brussels on a sunny spring day to lift the lid on latest global regulatory news and take a look at Safer by Design as a tool in sustainable business.
The day kicked off with Andrej Kobe of DG Environment updating the meeting on latest developments in REACH Annex updates and nanomaterial definition. Jenny Holmqvist of ECHA then presented the emerging Observatory for Nanomaterials (EUON), evolving nanomaterial guidance and titanium dioxide classification.
Discussion with attendees focussed on the REACH 2018 registration deadline, incidental vs intentional production of nanoparticles, operation of EUON and visibility of ECHA, potential negative impact of a dedicated observatory and the suitability of test guidelines.
The meeting then heard from NIA’s Guillaume Flament on national registries within Europe and global developments in countries including Australia, Japan, Brazil, Canada and the US.
The Safe by Design model was presented by NIA’s Sean Kelly, with a company casestudy from Jean-Françoise Perrin of NanoMakers on how SbD principles have been applied to both the production process and final product, creating an ISO9001 certification for market advantage. NIA is currently running a survey as part of the Nanogentools project on industry awareness of SbD, supporting a free of charge workshop in Spain on April 24-25.
The eternal topic of Brexit was then addressed by Neil Hunt of the REACH Centre, highlighting the potential regulatory and tariff changes around nanomaterials associated with the UK’s exit from the EU.
The symposium wrapped up with a look at nanomaterials within the cosmetics sector, with Florian Schellauf of Cosmetics Europe presenting an insight into definitions, regulatory development and consumer perception in a sector which led the way in nano-specific aspects of regulations.
