Background

DG Growth is conducting a study on the Cumulative Cost Assessment for the EU chemical Industry. The study is being carried out by the contractor Technopolis Group, under the specific contract no. 30-CE-0658657/00-88, Framework Contract no. ENTR/172/PP/2012/FC - LOT 4.

The study is part of the Commission Work Programme for 2015, as a follow-up to the Regulatory Fitness and Performance (REFIT) Communication, published in October 2013 (COM(2013) 685 final). The work programme lists under the title 'Fitness Checks, Cumulative Cost Assessments and Evaluations planned' inter alia the Cumulative Cost Assessment for the chemical industry.

The Industrial Policy Communication published on 22 January 2014 specifies that a cumulative cost assessment will be launched, so as to assess the cumulative costs of EU policies. It will also assess regulatory requirements on the competitiveness of the EU chemical industry.

Description

The EU chemical industry faces many challenges that have an impact on its competitiveness, such as the cost and availability of inputs (raw materials or energy); environmental, health and safety regulations; and competition from third country producers.

The aim of this study is to analyse cumulative cost effects of the most relevant EU legislation on the chemical industry. The study will identify and quantify regulatory costs, both direct and indirect, which specifically affect the EU chemical industry. The analysed EU legislation includes chemical legislation; industrial emissions and process legislation; workers safety legislation; customs and trade legislation; transport legislation and consumer safety legislation.

Event

The study on the Cumulative Cost Assessment for the EU Chemical Industry was launched in July 2014, for  a period of 15 months. As specified in the terms of reference, a Validation Workshop will be organised by the Commission.  This will enable all interested stakeholders and the Commission services to provide their final comments, as well as contribute to the robustness test, which will be carried out on the results of the study.

Main objectives of the validation workshop

• A peer review of the study prior to its publication: independent external experts will present their views on the validity of the methodology; the collection of cost data; and final results for further discussion;

• Open discussion on the key findings of the study, aimed at verifying the robustness of its results;

• First orientation on how to interpret the results of the study, in view of the competitiveness of the European chemical industry.

Who attended

DG Growth with the contractor Technopolis Group;  interested stakeholders (industry representatives from chemical and related sectors; Member States; NGOs; academia; trade unions; research institutes…) and other Commission Directorates General (DG Environment, DG Climate Action, Secretariat General, DG Energy, DG Employment, DG Research and Innovation, DG Trade, JRC Petten, JRC Seville, EUROSTAT), Agencies (ECHA Helsinki…) who were engaged in the study process by being active in the so-called inter-service Steering group.

Structure of the workshop

The main focus was on the discussion and validation of the preliminary results of the study on regulatory costs, based on feedback from chemical companies, within the different subsectors of the chemical industry.

The contractor presented the overall methodology, including how the data on the costs has been collected and validated. The preliminary conclusions of this analysis were also presented. Participants had the opportunity to express their views on the results.

The workshop was divided into three sessions, based on introductory remarks from the contractor and a ‘peer-reviewer’.

Agenda

Agenda of the workshop