Surface treatment industry calls on EU to grant authorisations for the continued used of chromium trioxide

The European Committee for Surface Treatment (CETS) has called on the European Commission to grant authorisations for the continued use of chromium trioxide. The applications for authorisation, with reference numbers 0032-01 through to 0032-06, were duly made before the sunset date of 21^st September 2017 but the European Commission has still not made its final decision. This is in spite of the fact that the European Chemicals Agency’s two main Committees, the Socio-economic Analysis Committee (SEAC) and the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) both concluded that the authorisations should be granted.

CETS’ President, David Elliott stated that the uncertainty surrounding the delay in granting the authorisation was damaging business confidence and companies were holding back on investment plans and end-users were looking outside the EU to ensure that there supply chains were not disrupted. He also stated that the European Commission was distorting the marketplace by allowing some companies longer review periods for their individual authorisations and was, in fact, penalising those companies that had participated in the whole supply chain authorisation.

CETS’ members have contacted their National Governments to press for a timely resolution to this situation and call on the whole of the manufacturing supply chain to support this initiative.

CETS, the European Committee for Surface Engineering, is an international federation of national associations engaged in all aspects of surface engineering. The application of surface engineering is vital to the success of almost every commercial and industrial product: from aero engines to aeroplanes, from iPods to surgical implants and from razor blades to racing cars.