France publishes Results from the first Round of its Mandatory Nano Reporting Scheme
On 1 January 2013 France launched its mandatory reporting scheme for substances at the nanoscale that are produced or imported into France. A report, entitled Elements from the Declarations of Substances at Nanoscale (Éléments issus des Declarations des Substances à l’État Nanoparticulaire), was published by the Ministry of the Environment and analyses the results of the first round of this registration.
Under the Decree on the Annual Declaration on Substances at Nanoscale (Décret relatif à la déclaration annuelle des substances à l'état nanoparticulaire), and with an extension of two months to the original deadline, the French authorities have been collecting information on nanomaterials from 1 January 2013 to 30 June 2013. By the end of this exercise 3,409 statements had been provided by 933 respondents; 60% of these respondents were French.
The report analysing these declarations estimates the total number of registered substances to be between 243 and 422; an approximation justified by the lack of information on the chemical identification of the substances. In the report the Ministry of the Environment regrets that 41% of the registrations do not allow for the identification of the chemical composition of the substances because they do not, for example, provide a CAS number.
279,439 tons of declared substances were produced in France in 2012 and 142.676 tons were imported, according to the report. The five substances produced or imported in the largest quantities were: carbon black, amorphous silica/silicon dioxide, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, and aluminium oxide. An extensive list of substances can be found in the report itself.
Information on the quantities and uses of substances can also be found in the document: 19.6% of the declared substances were used for formulations, 10.6% for other uses, 8.1% for coatings and paints, solvents and diluents, 6.1% for cosmetics, and amounts below 5% of the total for uses such as fuel, food products and others.
Source: NIA
Image: © Copyright 2013, The Innovation Society, Ltd.
- Decree on the Annual Declaration on Substances at Nanoscale (external link)
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