There are more problematic chemicals in products than the average person realises. These need to be minimised to reduce exposure and risks for both humans and nature.
Until now, the Technical Committees of CEN have had little knowledge and awareness on how crucial it is to consider hazardous chemicals in standards. This changes from today, with the publication of “CEN Guide 16.” This guide addresses chemicals in standards for consumer products and supports Technical Committees to develop requirements in product standards that can minimise the use of hazardous chemicals, and ultimately reducing health and environmental risks arising from exposure to chemicals.
Until now, no comprehensive guidance on how to address chemicals in products was available to people contributing to standards activities. Earlier this year, “CEN Guide 16” was published and now CEN has agreed to promote the use of the guide to anyone involved in standardisation processes.
Initiated by the European Commission (DG GROW) and CEN, ECOS has been part of the project team together with Austrian Standards (ASI), Danish Standards (DS), and the Spanish Association for Standardisation and Certification (UNE).
The CEN Guide 16 is available here.
Find out more about our work on chemicals.