§ Mr. Gryllsasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give an estimate of the additional cost to the chemical industry of its implementing the new regulations concerning the testing of chemical substances, proposed by the Health and Safety Commission.
§ Mr. WaddingtonIt is not possible to estimate the overall additional cost to industry of the proposed regulations on the notification of new substances.
As explained in the introduction to the Health and Safety Commission's consultative document, published on 18 February 1981, manufacturers, importers and suppliers already incur some costs in testing substances, by virtue of section 6 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which requires that they carry out or arrange for the testing and examination of those substances so that they can ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that a substance is safe and without risk to health when properly used.
The draft regulations, which are necessary to implement Community Directive 79/831/EEC, do not impose rigid test protocols in respect of the testing of new 202W substances and it is proposed that the notifier should be free within the concept of an Approved Code of Practice to select the test methods he considers most appropriate.
As the nature and extent of the testing of new substances will to some extent vary according to the nature of the substance, the intended use and the quantity produced, it is not possible to provide any realistic indication of the costs of any additional testing which may be required under the proposed regulations.