On the 12^th December 2019, nearly 50 participants took part of the 13^th edition of the “REACH&CLP 2019 annual conference – New European policies and arising challenges for companies”, organised by the REACH&CLP Helpdesk Luxembourg with the support from Fedil, Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, and the Ministry of Economy.

During this new edition, Mr Gaston Trauffler from Fedil, Madam Joëlle Welfring from the administration of environment (AEV) and Mr Lucien Hoffmann from the Luxembourg Institute of Science and technology (LIST) gave us the honour of delivering the opening speech. Each speaker emphasized that new challenges await companies and that the REACH and CLP regulations are constantly evolving. It was also underlined that Luxembourg wishes to act proactively in the implementation of the conclusions of the European Council concerning the strategy for a sustainable policy on chemical substances.

The first part of this conference was the occasion to introduce a new regulation, which is now a new activity of the REACH&CLP Helpdesk Luxembourg. In this sense, Ghaya Rziga, from the Helpdesk team, presented a general overview on the regulation concerning Persistent Organic Pollutants or regulation POP. Afterwards, Mr Erwin Annys, head of unit Support and Enforcement at the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), was able to present the way the HelpNet and the Forum contribute to the proper implementation of the obligations regarding the Waste Framework Directive published in 2018 and the notification of hazardous mixtures placed on the European market.  

The second part of the event was an opportunity to discuss topics that are increasingly of interest for companies. Ruth Moeller from the Helpdesk and member of ECHA's Risk Assessment Committee (RAC), reported on the committee's activities concerning the calculation of exposure limit values at workplace. After that, Laurène Chochois from the Helpdesk and Mr François Wuyts from the Brussels  Poisons Centre jointly discussed the obligations of the CLP Regulation regarding the declaration of hazardous mixtures with a focus on the notification system set up by the Belgian Poisons Centre. This session was closed by Oona Freudenthal from the Helpdesk who reported on the latest developments of the LIFE AskREACH project, mentioning in particular the official launch of the Scan4Chem mobile application (available on Google Play and the App store) for consumers.

This new edition was an opportunity for the participants to ask their questions to all the experts present in the conference. The "networking lunch", organised at the beginning of the session, also enabled participants to exchange views on REACH&CLP with the Helpdesk team, the speakers as well as with the other guests. It was, thus, highlighted that many challenges await not only companies but also institutions and competent authorities.

The presentations are available on the Event’s webpage.