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The 389 European companies producing the SIN List chemicals
Last week ChemSec publishes the SIN Producers List, listing the 389 companies producing or importing SIN List chemicals in Europe. Along with information on which SIN List chemicals these companies produce in volumes of 10 tonnes per year or more, the SIN Producers List also highlights how many of these are currently on the REACH candidate list.
The top three producers of SIN List chemicals are BASF (65), Bayer (45) and Clariant (25).
Since 2008 the SIN List, which contains substances identified by ChemSec as fulfilling REACH criteria for Substances of Very High Concern, has been a well-utilised tool by a variety of stakeholders. The 2.0 update was presented in May, expanding the SIN List to 378 substances.
- The SIN Producers List identifies companies producing chemicals that are harmful to humans and the environment, and which are likely to face future regulation in the EU. This is valuable information, not least for downstream users interested in what their suppliers produce, or financial investors seeking to avoid high-risk investments in hazardous chemicals, says ChemSec business and investors advisor Sonja Haider.
The SIN Producers List is based on the latest publicly available information of which companies produce what chemicals, presented in the European Commission's database ESIS, the European Chemical Substances Information System.
However, the information on the ESIS database has not been updated since 2008. In 2010 ChemSec asked the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to disclose the names of companies producing the SIN List chemicals, as this information has been provided to ECHA through the REACH registrations.
This request was denied, and in May, ChemSec, together with ClientEarth, brought a legal action against ECHA for withholding this information. ECHA then agreed to disclose parts of the requested information. Today, five months later, this information has not yet been made public.
In September members of the European Parliament also urged ECHA to be more transparent.
- The report builds on the latest publicly available data. Since this information has not been updated since 2008, we once again call on ECHA to make the latest figures on the producers of SIN List chemicals public. This issue boils down to European citizens' and organisations' access to information on which companies are producing the most hazardous chemicals in our society today, says ChemSec SIN List project coordinator Jerker Ligthart.
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