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The concept of essential use was adopted by the European Commission on April 22, 2024, setting up the criteria and principles for limiting the use of most hazardous chemicals under EU legislation. Speaking at the ChemCon Asia conference held in Bangkok on June 4, 2024, Mr. Sampo Karkola, an official from ECHA, elaborated on the purposes of developing such a concept and how it applies to chemical management.
Mr. Karkola stated that the overarching goal of this concept is to achieve higher regulatory efficiency for a faster phaseout of the most hazardous chemicals in non-essential uses. The essential use concept should serve as a tool to assess when it is justifiable from a societal standpoint to permit the use of a most hazardous chemical. As Mr. Karkola explained, "the use of a most hazardous chemical would only be allowed if it’s necessary for health, safety or it’s critical for the functioning of society and there’re no other acceptable alternatives to that chemical".
For uses deemed essential for society, the concept can give companies the certainty that substances used in critical applications – notably for the green and digital transition, but also security and defence – can continue to be used until alternatives are available. Mr. Karkola noted that, the essential use concept will only have legal effect when it’s introduced in specific EU legislation. So far, no EU legislation contains a legal definition of essential uses of substances.
On this matter, Mr. Christian Gründling from the Association of the Austrian Chemical Industry (FCIO) also articulated his viewpoint. He emphasized that derogations from generic restrictions should only be limited to essential uses. The primary objective is to spur innovation for alternatives while avoiding disruptive bans for essential uses. Mr. Gründling suggested that EU REACH should adapt its authorization and restriction rules to streamline processes by enabling the Commission to preemptively exclude essential uses from the scope of authorization requirements. In his opinion, it does not make sense to wait with phasing out of most hazardous chemicals until users can substitute.
To sum up, the essential use concept aims to strike a balance between phasing out hazardous chemicals and maintaining critical societal functions. Once the essential use concept becomes integrated into specific EU legislation, it will be a closely watched development in the ongoing efforts to phase out the most hazardous chemicals. ChemLinked will keep an eye on this issue. Please stay tuned.
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