EC Posts Draft Reports for Impact Assessment on Transparency Measures for Nanomaterials

On June 30, 2014, the European Commission (EC) held a validation workshop to discuss the preliminary results of the study supporting the impact assessment on transparency measures for nanomaterials. As part of the workshop, the EC released the following reports:

• Study to Assess the Impact of Possible Legislation to Increase Transparency on Nanomaterials on the Market: Evaluation Report (second draft): This report is one of several outcomes of a study on regulatory oversight of nanomaterials within the European Union (EU). To date, the report states, two relevant register-like schemes — both concerning nanomaterials and operating within the EU — have been established:  the French Notification System (FNS) and the Cosmetic Products Notification Portal (CPNP).  Meanwhile, other transparency measures have been established or proposed by EU Member States.
• Study to Assess the Impact of Possible Legislation to Increase Transparency on Nanomaterials on the Market: Building Blocks Report (second draft): This report documents the findings of Task 2 (“Background information for building blocks of policy options”) and should complement the information provided in the Evaluation report (based on the findings of Task 1 (“Lessons learned from other schemes”) through the assessment of the FNS and the CPNP.
• Study to Assess the Impact of Possible Legislation to Increase Transparency on Nanomaterials on the Market: Options Assessment Report (first draft): This report documents the findings of Task 4 (“Support for the option assessment”), namely to identify the key issues that will need to be accounted for under each of the options being considered by the EC before a full impact assessment can be prepared. The report states: “It is important to emphasise that this report is intended to inform future policy development and analysis by the European Commission and is not intended to represent a definitive position of the Commission.”

The EC released a working document in May 2014 as part of its public consultation on transparency measures for nanomaterials in the market, which will end on August 5, 2014.