Regulations addressing pollution and the control of chemicals in products are "ramping up, not slowing down" during the coronavirus pandemic, say industry representatives.
In a Chemical Watch webinar on 16 April, Stephen Klump, global head of packaging/food contact material safety and compliance at Nestlé, said he hadn’t seen any slowdown in regulatory activity since the Covid-19 crisis began, and doesn't expect to as the situation continues.
Mr Klump said this is because "safety and compliance is key". Nestle’s safety and compliance teams remain busy despite measures taken around the world, such as social distancing and home working.
"We haven’t had any furloughs, we’re still at our jobs and able to function. Safety and compliance is paramount. You need to make sure you have safe packaging for safe food, to have safe consumers and customers because repeat business is very important," he told the webinar.
Fellow speaker Weldon Williams, senior director of quality assurance for supply chain service provider HAVI, agreed. He said that after speaking to regulators in the US in recent weeks, it was clear that the regulatory environment "isn’t slowing down at all, in fact I see the regulators ramping up as they see it as an opportunity to emphasise the need to exercise those controls to ensure the safety of products".
Regulators in the US and EU have confirmed that, despite a significant shift in how they operate, it is possible to carry out their regulatory duties without too much disruption.
In an interview with Chemical Watch earlier this month, Echa’s executive director Bjorn Hansen said that for the agency it is very much "business as usual with some adjustments" on two fronts – getting staff adapted to home working and organising the meetings of its Committees for Risk Assessment and Socio-economic Analysis (Rac and Seac), the Member State Committee (MSC) and management board.
The US EPA, meanwhile, has said it can continue to deliver on its work under TSCA during the coronavirus crisis. However, some experts have said that statutory deadlines could slip as the agency’s workforce begins working remotely.
Amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases, the EPA has asked its 14,000 workers, if they are able, to move to telework and videoconferencing. But the agency remains optimistic that it "will continue to deliver the same quality of work in a timely manner".
Wake up call
Executive director of the apparel industry’s initiative, the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC), Frank Michel told Chemical Watch that the virus is "giving us a wake up call" on the importance of sustainable practices and supply chains.
"If we now loosen the regulatory environment around pollution then we’re just changing the problem – we’re perhaps helping the economy but we’re polluting the people, instead of with a virus, with bad drinking water or polluted air," he added.
Meanwhile, the president of Germany’s environment agency (UBA), Professor Dirk Messner, said in a 9 April statement that governments should not loosen, or lose sight of, environmental protection during this time.
"It is important to look at all the stimulus packages on climate protection and sustainability. Green investment is worthwhile in two ways: it builds the economy up again, while doing something good for the environment," he said.