BRUSSELS — The European Commission is preparing to exclude the European Parliament from a reform of the EU’s chemical safety rules, abandoning a six-year project to overhaul the laws through the normal route.
The power grab would be a major win for the EU’s influential chemicals lobby, which has been pushing Brussels to drop the planned legislative review.
The law in question — known as REACH — governs how tens of thousands of often dangerous chemicals are assessed for their impact on the environment and human health. The review was initially meant to bring the laws in line with the EU’s broader green goals.
But as the Commission’s priorities shifted from environmentalism to industrial competitiveness, the goals of the REACH revision shifted with it.
