This information is intended for CEPE members only.
It is not intended to be distributed outside the CEPE community

France has introduced an appeal against the annulment ruling before the EU Court of Justice on 8 February 2023 (Case C-71/23 P). No further details on the appeal are available for the time being. Pending the outcome of the appeal, the Tio2 Regulation remains valid and in force and should be complied with in terms of classification and labelling requirements.
CEPE, ACA and BCF are a party to the appeal proceedings so will receive a copy of the appeal in approx. two months and will have the opportunity to respond.

Last year, the Deco Sector Group agreed to carry out some communication activities targeting the general public on the role of decorative paints and their contribution to society and to sustainability. A small group was set up to conceive and propose a concept to the SG. The group is preparing a social media campaign consisting of a series of small concise messages around a few stories. It will be run conjunctly by the National Associations and companies. The intention is to launch the campaign is 23 May 2023.
Should you be interested in supporting the campaign, a short Q&A webinar will be organised in the coming weeks.

The Deco TC had a long discussion on the Construction Products Regulation versus the Eco-design for Sustainable Product Regulation and concluded that it was not possible to position ourselves and lobby in favour of one or the other due to too many uncertainties. CEPE is tasked to reach out to the European Commission. The group also discussed the possibility to provide gloves with classified consumer paints. It was updated on microplastics, PEF and ecolabel activities.

The Big Data WG reviewed the feedback from the senior committees, and discussed in detail the requests for clarity and criteria on the differences between level 1 and level 2 information / data gathering. Further documents will be prepared to support these activities in future. Possible 3rd party partners to support level 2 data gathering were also discussed, with members invited to propose names. It was proposed that SHEAB and ESRAG between them should take over the responsibility for data collection activities once this starts up later in 2023, with focal point contacts needed within each participating company.

The EuPIA Energy Curing Working Group held an ad-hoc meeting on the topic of the revision of the PI Suitability List. A considerable number of the substances proposed to be added to the list were questioned by the WG, on the basis of their suitability for use and their composition, and these were then ear-marked for deletion from the draft. The draft text was also refined. A new version of the document was prepared ready for further comments and discussion at the next meeting.

The second meeting within a month of the BPA TF followed up on the actions from the previous meeting, continuing the discussions relating to the Bisphenols Annex XV Restriction report from the German authorities. Although considerable confusion remains with regard to the wording relating to the 65ppm derogation for solid and semi-solid epoxy resin-based ‘articles’, the TF decided not to question the authorities at this stage or to proceed with any submission to the public consultation for the time-being. There has been very little consideration of non-epoxy BPA-based polymers and intermediates that may be affected by the < 10ppm limit and members were once again encouraged to investigate within their operations whether this might be a problem. It was pointed out that inclusion of the Drinking Water test method for BPA content in the final Restriction might be appropriate. Future meetings of the group will be arranged if deemed necessary.

The Powder Coatings Sector Group met online for an ad-hoc call with 2 representatives from Epoxy Europe to discuss the German Bisphenols Restriction proposal. EE have similar concerns to CEPE with regard to the wording used in the Annex XV report, especially confusion over the 65ppm derogation, the no water contact exemption, and extrapolating migration testing to cover the whole service life. There is the possibility that CEPE could join other sectors in supporting the option 2 (150ppm threshold) approach, but the justification for this is not particularly strong, and could push the authorities towards the previous 10ppm limit level. Further engagement with Epoxy Europe is envisaged in a couple of months’ time, once the RAC and SEAC discussions have progressed, and Member State positions become known.

The Green Deal Task Force Subgroup Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) identified paint-related EPR schemes and collected more data on paint waste in different member states. The GDTF Subgroup further discussed the new study published by the French ADEME on the recycling of paint waste in different OECD countries, and the current waste handling practices in the profes-sional paint user sector.

The Sector Group was updated on the proposed priorities for 2023 and agreed to several deliverables, one of which is the campaign on the image of deco paints. Members were also invited to give their feedback on the work of the group and to fill in a assessment form. Members were updated on the work of the TC. There was a lengthy discussion on Eco-design vs Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and if CEPE should lobby to be excluded from the scope of the CPR but there was no consensus. The Deco TC chairman called for participants in the newly established working group set up to develop measures that will allow gloves to be provided with paints classified as sensitising. KK provided members with an update on the Extended Producer Responsibility, the EU Eco-label and the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF). On this last point, a joint meeting of the Deco SG and PEF TS will be organised. JvD finally gave an update on the social media campaign in preparation. The launch date is currently set for 22 May 2023.

The CEPE CSS group had again an excellent and intense discussion on the status of the different CSS topics. It finalized the input to the CLP Ordinary Legislative Process consultation focusing on three main elements. Agreement was reached on the need to start discussing the details of the analysis of alternatives as there will be difficult discussions on scenarios including proprietary information. The group also agreed to maintain the same frequency of meeting and to make it a bit longer (3h) given the expected extremely busy 2023 year that we expect.

The Biocides and Gloves WG held their second meeting to discuss how to approach the topic of possible mandatory glove supply with certain paints. The group agreed that no firm commitment can be made at the next Biocide CA meeting in March. A call with European Commission to inform them of the CEPE situation and ask them what sort of commitment they would need to convince the most difficult MS will be sought. A statement will be prepared for the next Biocide CA meeting in March around the lines of ‘as long as a legal requirement exist that gloves have to be supplied it does not matter at this stage who will be responsible and pay for this, Industry will find solutions and probably on a B2B basis’. The WG will meet again on 6 February to continue the discussions.

EuPIA Working Group Environmental Footprint of Inks (EFPI) is working on obtaining LCI information for relevant raw material associations. In parallel, the WG has also started to draft guidance document that can help EUPIA members to utilize the LCI datasets and the methodology to handle.