Cefic clarifies Deca-BDE restrictions proposed by some European countries

In August 2006, the Swedish government decided to restrict Deca-BDE in textiles, furniture and cables as of January 1, 2007, which is in breach of EU law. Similarly, the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT) recommended the restriction of Deca-BDE, TBBPA and HBCD flame retardants in consumer products to the Norwegian government in January 2007.

According to Cefic most of the EU Member States have transposed the decision to exempt Deca-BDE from the RoHS directive or they are in the process of doing so.

"All EU Member States have to implement this Decision, which should be directly applicable in every Member State, and entered into force the same day that it was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. In some Member States the exemption decisions are automatically transposed while in other countries an explicit transposition process needs to be undertaken to include the exemptions into the national legislation," explained Rene Montaigne, Sector Groups Manager, Plastics Additives Group, Specialty Chemicals Programme for Cefic.

If a member state does not transpose an EU decision then it could be confronted with an infringement procedure, said Montaigne.

For non-EU member states such as Norway, since it is a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) it is also required to implement the RoHS Directive and the exemption decisions. "Concerning the specific exemption of Deca-BDE we understand that this has not yet occurred in Norway," said Montaigne.

As for Sweden, Deca-BDE can be used with no restrictions in electrical and electronic equipment and in the automotive sector. A national legislation, which entered into force in January 2007, restricts the use of Deca-BDE in other applications, said Montaigne. "The European Commission is opposing this national Swedish legislation, given the positive outcome of the scientific risk assessment of Deca-BDE, which was concluded in 2004 and did not identify any environmental and/or human health risks that could justify further risk reduction measures. Our understanding is that currently both the European Commission and Sweden are discussing how best to address this situation."

A proactive industry initiative, Voluntary Emissions Control Action Programme (VECAP) has been developed by the bromine flame retardant industry to monitor, manage and reduce industrial emissions of brominated flame retardants into the environment.

"Initially VECAP has been focused on the use of Deca-BDE by the plastics and textile industries in Europe. Its early success has motivated the brominated flame retardant industry to roll out VECAP globally, and to implement it for the other High Production Volume flame retardants (TBBPA and HBCD)," said Montaigne.

Similar initiatives have recently been launched in North America and Japan.

Editor's note: See related articles: EU announces Deca-BDE exemption, Sweden to ban Deca-BDE.