EU draft on microplastics finalised

Final draft amendment finalized

In August 2022 the Final draft amendment from the European Committee was finalized and sent to the Member States. A few important notes:

• The transition period after final adoption for polymers is 5 years, and for PPPs is 8 years
• The exclusions for being defined as microplastic have remained the same for the most important parts (see below)

We now expect that the legislation might be implemented early 2023. This means that the regulation will come into effect in 2028 for polymers and 2031 for PPPs.

What are the exclusion criteria for being defined as microplastic?

The exclusions have remained the same for the most important parts, being

• polymers that are the result of a polymerization process that has occurred naturally and that are not chemically modified
• polymers that are (bio)degradable*
• polymers that have a solubility greater than 2g/L
• polymers that do not contain carbon atoms

(Bio)degradability criteria have been described in detail in the draft amendment.

What are the next steps?

• Presentation, discussions and vote in the REACH committee (to be finalized in 2023)
• Scrutiny by European Parliament and Council (3 months)
• Adoption and implementation of regulation in Member State (this happens directly)

A realistic expectation would be that the legislation will come into effect mid 2023.

Are there any new publications available on this topic?

Croda and Incotec recently issued a whitepaper on the topic of microplastics in agriculture. Amalia Kafka (Technical Manager, Sustainable Seed Technologies, Euroseeds), Niels Louwaars (Managing Director Plantum, the association for the plant reproductive materials sector), Erik Jan Bartels (Managing Director Incotec), Marta Dobrowolska-Haywood (R&D Manager Incotec), Clare Liptrot (Regulatory Affairs Manager Croda) and Jane Lawson (Regulatory Specialist, Croda) contributed to this report.