Flame retardants will be targeted in EU policy developments for Sustainable Products and Green Public Purchasing, says Thierry Breton (European Commissioner for Internal Market). The statement is in response to a question from three Portuguese European Parliament members (PPE) which cites as source the Alliance for Flame Retardant Free Furniture (an organisation with ten members, of whom two furniture industry federations). The Commission answer refers to existing regulation (REACH, RoHS, POPs), citing as prohibited the PBDEs (brominated) and SCCPs (chlorinated). It confirms that furniture will be a priority product group under the future Sustainable Product Initiative (public consultation currently open, see above) and in the Circular Economy Action Plan and that policy will build on existing Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria. pinfa notes that recently published GPP criteria for printers exclude all halogenated FRs (see pinfa Newsletter n°116).
EU Parliamentary Question 20th May 2020 ref. E-003135/2020 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-003135_EN.html and European Commission answer, Thierry Breton, 15th September 2020 ref. E-003135/2020 https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2020-003135-ASW_EN.html