LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document

LexisNexis(TM) Academic - DocumentCopyright 2005 The Financial Times Limited
Financial Times (London, England)

February 22, 2005 Tuesday
Europe Edition 1

SECTION: WORLD NEWS; Pg. 7

LENGTH: 416 words

HEADLINE: Tokyo opposes draft EU chemical laws

BYLINE: By RAPHAEL MINDER

DATELINE: BRUSSELS

BODY:


Japan would consider a challenge at the World Trade Organisation if the European Union put into force its controversial draft legislation to overhaul testing and registration rules for chemicals, according to a Japanese government official.

Kaname Araki, deputy-director of the economic integration division in the Japanese foreign ministry, said Tokyo's concerns about how planned EU chemicals legislation could hurt exports should top the agenda of an EU-Japan meeting next month on regulatory issues.

The European Commission maintains that the draft legislation, known as Reach (registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals), is non-discriminatory and in compliance with WTO rules.

However, Mr Araki said his country wanted to see whether the planned legislation complied with an agreement on technical barriers to trade, particularly the obligation to ensure that such legislation did not create an "unnecessary obstacle" to international trade.

Mr Araki added: "Reach could be very burdensome and difficult for Japanese exporters. At this stage Reach is just a proposal and we haven't decided yet whether it is consistent with the WTO or not. But we have real concerns and we certainly cannot exclude the possibility of asking for a (WTO) panel if the proposal goes ahead in its present form . .. I think the US and others are probably in a similar position."

Separately, Takashi Hattori, a deputy-director in Japan's ministry of economy, trade and industry, said that while it was premature to consider a WTO challenge, Japan was worried the EU had "not fully appreciated what the concerns of our industry are." He added: "At this stage, we cannot clearly say that Reach is fully in line with the WTO."

Such fears among the EU's leading trading partners could press the European Commission into watering down Reach before it is debated by the European parliament. However, Stavros Dimas, the EU's environment commissioner and co-sponsor of the legislation, told the FT last month that "our proposal will remain as it is" and would not be amended before the parliamentary review.

An EU official said he was aware of Japan's concerns, but insisted trade aspects had been already taken into account.

Reach's main aim is to extend testing to some 30,000 chemicals first sold before 1981, when the EU started to co-ordinate approval of new products. This regulatory overhaul has been criticised by the chemicals industry, which claims it will cost more than estimated by Brussels and lose jobs.

LOAD-DATE: February 21, 2005