The NIA is calling out a damaging split at the heart of the European Commission, where the drive for industrial leadership in advanced materials is being undermined by contradictory regulatory signals from within the Commission itself.
Industry is being asked to meet extensive testing obligations for nanoforms before they can reach the market, even at low scale, with no clear guidance on how to apply those requirements proportionately.
The NIA's position paper proposes regulatory sandboxes and cross-sector dialogues as practical tools to restore industry confidence without weakening Europe's health and environmental protections.
Press Release – Bridging the Governance Gap: Divergent EU Approaches to Nano and Advanced Materials
Dr. Blanca Suarez-Merino
4 min read
Summary
The Nanotechnology Industries Association (NIA) today releases a new position paper, Bridging the Governance Gap highlighting industry challenges with divergent EU approaches to nano and advanced materials. Europe is at a critical juncture in the approach that it takes towards nano and other advanced materials. With the publication of its Communication Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership, it seeks to take a globally leading position in materials innovation. On the other hand, it continues to be unclear how this ambition aligns with its longstanding application of the precautionary approach to chemical safety and environmental protection for materials.
We understood that in any large governmental organization like the European Commission there may be different positions being adopted by its different bodies, in this case its Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and Directorate-General for Environment (DG-ENV). But it should be expected that there should be a more coherent approach from the European Commission as a whole. During the recent discussions in the 54th meeting of the CARACAL expert group, it became clear that there is a divergence between DG GROW and DG ENV, as the first pushes for economic growth and the later seeks to further increase complexity regarding regulatory obligations under REACH. For industry to succeed there needs to be consistency in approach and policy alignment that provides industry with a clear innovation pathway, whilst not compromising the safety of EU citizens or the European environment.
