EUROPE

EUROPEAN CHEMICALS BUREAU REMOVES NP FROM LIST OF POSSIBLE PBTS — April 19, 2005

November 2004 Update

The European Union (EU) conducted a Risk Assessment on NP, which considered the environmental fate and effects of NP and NPEs as well as their human safety and issues relating to endocrine activity. The EU approach to calculating the environmental risk of these compounds relied on a very conservative risk calculation rather than taking a statistical approach using the abundant available data on these compounds. The EU Risk Assessment also used conservative techniques to estimate environmental releases and exposures rather than relying on actual environmental monitoring information.

The European Parliament, favoring a precautionary risk management approach, approved Market and Use Restrictions for NP/NPEs, which were published on July 17, 2003 in the Official Journal of the European Union. The following specific restrictions are supposed to come into force at the EU Member Country level by January of 2005:

Nonylphenol and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates may not be placed on the market or used as a substance or constituent of preparations in concentrations equal or higher than 0.1 % by mass for the following purposes:

(1) Industrial and institutional cleaning except:

• controlled closed dry cleaning systems where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated,
  
• cleaning systems with special treatment where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated;

(2) Domestic cleaning;
(3) Textiles and leather processing except:

• processing with no release into wastewater,
  
• systems with special treatment where the process water is pretreated to remove the organic fraction completely prior to biological wastewater treatment (degreasing of sheepskin);

(4) Emulsifier in agricultural teat dips;
(5) Metal working except:

• Uses in controlled closed systems where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated;

(6) Manufacturing of pulp and paper;
(7) Cosmetic products;
(8) Other personal care products except:

• Spermicides;

(9) Co-formulants in pesticides and biocides.

The United Kingdom is currently conducting a risk assessment on OP.

October 2003 Update

On July 17, 2003, the European Commission published in the European Union Official Journal, a Marketing and Use Directive that restricts the major uses of nonylphenol (NP) and nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs). The Directive states that NP/NPEs "may not be placed on the market or used as a substance or constituent of preparations in concentrations equal or higher than 0.1 % by mass" in the following applications:

• Industrial and institutional cleaning except controlled closed dry cleaning systems where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated or cleaning systems with special treatment where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated;
• Domestic cleaning;
• Textiles and leather processing except processing with no release into wastewater and systems with special treatment where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated;
• Emulsifier in agricultural teat dips;
• Metalworking except uses in controlled closed systems where the washing liquid is recycled or incinerated;
• Manufacturing of pulp and paper;
• Cosmetic products;
• Other personal care products except spermicides; and,
• Co-formulants in pesticides and biocides.

There is an eighteen-month transition period for the implementation of the Directive at the individual European country level. Therefore, regulations restricting the use of NP/NPEs in these applications will likely come into force in January of 2005.

The Directive was largely based on a risk assessment that relied on a series of conservative assumptions about effects and environmental exposures to NP (from the use of NP and its derivatives) taking into account all life cycle stages at the local and regional level. The restrictions were driven by concern over the high aquatic toxicity of NP and the associated risk in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems due primarily to effluent discharge. The European Parliament, favoring a precautionary risk management approach, concluded that the best means to manage possible aquatic risks is to restrict the use of the compound.

A similar approach is not expected in the United States (US). The US EPA will soon adopt an ambient Water Quality Criteria (WQC) for NP, which will define an acceptable level of NP in ambient waters. Previous monitoring efforts in the US generally found levels in the environment at concentrations less than the expected WQC value. - October 31, 2003

European Developments On Alkylphenols - Questions and Answers — November 5, 2002

RISK ASSESSMENT REVIEWS OF TRIS(NONYLPHENYL) PHOSPHITE (TNPP): European Union and United States – June 20, 2001

Letter To Our Customers and Others Interested in the International Regulatory Environment Relating to Alkylphenol-based Products in Europe, and an Update on the Developments in Canada - March 20, 2001 (.pdf version)

US PRODUCERS CHALLENGE EUROPEAN UNION'S PROPOSED RESTRICTIONS ON NONYLPHENOL ETHOXYLATES – November 18, 1999

NORWAY

On October 8, 2001, as part of the Product Control Act, the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment finalized a ban on the manufacture, import, export, sale and use of nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) and their ethoxylates and preparations containing these substances. This rule was proposed on January 7, 2001. As stated in APERC’s January 30, 2001 comments to the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT), there appears to be no basis for the outright ban of these compounds. Several countries, including the United States and Canada, have been able to define safe levels of NP/NPE and OP/OPE and as a result have not advocated banning the use of these compounds.

• APERC Comments to Norwegian Pollution Control Authority
• Transmittal Letter to Norwegian Pollution Control Authority
• Norwegian Pollution Control Authority Regulation

                                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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