Consultation delays
US
Submission of a final report to the Washington state legislature on a list of priority products to potentially face regulations under a new state scheme has been delayed beyond the 1 June deadline, due in part to the state’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The state Department of Ecology published a final draft report last month, identifying a set of priority consumer products to be reviewed under the Safer Products for Washington programme. The final report, however, is still undergoing executive review, "where the people reviewing are also dealing with the Covid-19 response", said Lauren Tamboer, spokesperson for the programme.
"We’ve been told the governor’s office will review it as soon as they can after they receive it," she said. "After that full review, the governor’s office will return it to us, and we will make any needed changes before submitting it to the legislature."
Derogations tracker or eased regulations
Sweden
The Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemi) has extended a derogation until 30 September that allows disinfectant manufacturers to source substances from unregistered suppliers.
The derogation exempts producers of disinfectants from the rules of the EU biocidal products Regulation’s (BPR) Article 95, which bind companies to sourcing biocidal active substances only from a list of approved substance suppliers.
This was due to expire on 30 June. But Kemi says it remains important to ensure a solid supply of disinfectants to meet the high demand during the pandemic.
Denmark
The Danish EPA has released a video explaining the enforcement actions it has taken to crack down on illegal hand sanitisers.
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the EPA has checked 165 products and taken enforcement action on 55 of these, it says. The agency has published a list of products that companies were forced to recall from the market.
US
Democratic chairs of several US House of Representatives committees have called on the US EPA to provide additional information on the relaxed enforcement policy it put in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 10 June letter calls for details on how the agency will wind down the policy and for increased transparency on which industries and companies have requested enforcement modifications, among others.
Guidance
Philippines
The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published a guide on the labelling requirements for sanitiser products containing alcohol.
Labels must include:
- product name and function;
- manufacturer’s batch number;
- expiry or best before date;
- country of manufacture;
- net content of alcohol;
- instructions on use – including frequency;
- solution precautions – warnings or conditions of use;
- full ingredient listing; and
- name and address of the company responsible for placing it on the local market.
Enforcement
Argentina
Two cases of noncompliant disinfectants have been discovered in provinces of Buenos Aires, according to announcements in Argentina's Official Bulletin on 6 June.
In one case, the label of an ethyl alcohol disinfectant said it was produced by a company that subsequently denied this and reported it as fraud. In another, a product was marketed as having 97% alcohol, which is a higher concentration than the country's regulation allows.
Authorities banned both products, saying their "origin, production conditions and content are unknown" and thus their "quality, safety and efficacy cannot be guaranteed".
They will also notify the production company – Global Med SA – in the latter case, of the product's noncompliance, the bulletin said.