Cosmetics and personal care products join coatings and pharmaceuticals in the top three categories of products which use the nanomaterials notified this year in the French register, with formulators occupying the top notification group alongside distributors, particularly from the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector.
Requirements
Since last year, companies producing, importing or distributing nanomaterials in France have been required to notify information annually in relation to the previous calendar year.
The latest report from the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy shows that the number of notifications jumped from 3,409 for 2012 to 10,417 for 2013, with most of the declarations coming from French entities
The French mandatory reporting scheme was launched in 2013 for nanomaterials that are produced or imported into France, and a second round of registration was completed in June this year, with results just published.
In this second report, the Ministry of the Environment provides insights into the registration of nanomaterials produced or imported during 2013.
The report, Elements from the Declarations of Substances at Nanoscale – Study Report 2014 (Éléments issus des Declarations des Substances à l’État Nanoparticulaire - Rapport d’étude 2014), indicates a threefold-growth in the number of declarations as detailed above.
It also states that registration of imported substances nevertheless significantly dropped between the two rounds: 212,000 tons were imported in 2013, and only 122,000 tons in 2014.
Notifications
In the report, carbon black, silicon dioxide, calcium carbonate, and titanium dioxide are the top four substances on the list of nanomaterials produced in, or imported to, France, just as they were in 2012 as well.
According to the guidelines, companies must notify nanomaterials, whether they are produced or handled as individual substances, as part of an unbound mixture, or in articles intended to release such substances under normal or reasonably foreseeable conditions of use.
The notification has to include information about the identity, quantity and use, as well as the name of the professional users, who have been supplied with the substance by the manufacturer, importer or distributor of the nanomaterial.