Brominated Flame Retardants

5. Regulations and Risk Reduction Measures with Respect to Brominated Flame Retardants

5.1 OECD initiatives
5.2 EU Initiatives
5.2.1 Legislation
5.2.2 Hazard/Risk Assessment
5.3 National Regulations
5.4 Ecolabels

5.1 OECD initiatives

In 1991, OECD’s Risk Reduction Programme began an investigation of brominated flame retardants. The goal was to explore the possibility of taking further action to reduce risk. In 1994, an OECD monograph was published /96/ that discussed the commercial and environmental life cycle of these substances as well as risk reduction measures implemented in Member Countries and these countries’ positions on the perceived risk from these substances. This report makes out a substantial point of departure for the following sections.

Discussions were held in 1995 between Member Countries and industry on possible activities that could be carries out to further reduce the risk. The result of these discussions was a proposed commitment, made by the major global producers of brominated flame retardants, to take certain risk management actions on tetrabromobisphenol A, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).

This commitment was presented to OECD’s 23rd Joint Meeting of the Chemicals Group and Management Committee in June 1995. The Joint Meeting agreed to oversee such actions and industry agreed to report to OECD every two years, regarding their implementation of this initiative.

The state of the OECD work per November 1998 is that it was recommended to the Joint Meeting that industry should give the final report on production-related emissions and possible risk reduction measures in year 2000 /73/.

5.2 EU Initiatives

The EU activities focus partly on regulation of specific hazardous substances at the use-phase and the waste-phase, partly on risk assessment of existing chemical substances.

In the early nineties a proposal was put forward from the Commission on regulation of PBDE. The proposal was withdrawn because of lack of majority.

5.2.1 Legislation

The Directive 76/769 on the approximation of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances, regulates, among other, the following relevant substances:

Hazardous waste   

The Council Regulation No 259/93/EEC on the supervision and control of shipments of waste within, into and out of the European Community. The red list of wastes in Annex IV, includes polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) and/or polychlorinated terphenyl (PCT) and/or polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), including any other polybrominated analogues of these compounds, at a concentration level of 50 mg/kg or more. /76/

5.2.2  Hazard/Risk Assessment

Under the Regulation on Existing substances, EEC/793/93, France and the UK have jointly assigned DeBDE and OcBDE for risk assessment and the UK have assigned PeBDE. Sweden has assigned HBCD for risk assessment.

5.3 National Regulations

The following review of recent and ongoing regulatory and related activities are based on a survey among the mentioned countries. There might exist other activities than those mentioned in the following. An enquiry has been forwarded to 20 OECD Member States, and replies have been received from Sweden, Norway, Finland, UK, Germany, Holland, Austria, USA and Denmark. The description of the regulations and initiatives in the remaining countries are mainly based on /OECD, 1994/.

A summary of the national activities is given in table 5.1.

Table 5.1
Survey of national activities concerning regulation, soft regulation, risk and hazard assessment activities and national positions on the issue of brominated flame retardants

Austria

Prohibitions

Austria has banned the production, the placing on the market, and the use of PBBs for all applications. Furthermore, the placing on the market and the use of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate and tris(aziridin-1-yl)phosphinoxid are forbidden in textiles intended to get in contact with skin.

Assessments   

The Austrian government awaits the results from the risk assessments under the EU Existing Substances Programme, and has not initiated studies related to the risk and to the use of brominated flame retardants.

Belgium

No risk reduction actions have been taken on brominated flame retardants, and further study is needed, before a national statement on risk can be developed.

International commitments

Belgium is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

Denmark

Prohibitions

Use of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (TRIS) and application of PBBs to textiles implying skin contact are banned /77 /. This executive order is the implementation of EU directive 76/769.

Soft regulation

Brominated flame retardants (as such) have been put on the Danish List of Undesirable Substances /78 /.

The list was introduced to inform major actors - manufacturers, product developers, purchasing agents and others with interest in use of chemicals in products - about compounds where the use should be reduced or stopped in the long view. The inclusion of a chemical does not imply decisions on future prohibitions, but it advertises the EPA's attention on the compounds.

BFRs have been selected to the list, due to high priority to the elimination of these substances in the marine environment.

Assessments

The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has initiated the present substance flow analysis and assessment of alternatives.

International commitments

Denmark is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

Finland

Prohibitions

Polybrominated biphenyls are not to be used in textile articles, such as garments, undergarments and linen, intended to come into contact with the skin. These prohibitions are in accordance with EC Directive 83/264 which is implemented in EC Directive 76/769.

International commitments

Despite the lack of national activities, Finland has urged the restrictions of the use of brominated flame retardants in the OSPAR framework.

France

Prohibitions

France has implemented EC Directives restricting the use of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate and PBBs in textiles.

Assessments

France and the UK have been jointly assigned DeBDE and OcBDE for risk assessment under EC Council Regulation 793/93 which requires them to propose any risk reduction action required.

International commitments

France is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

Germany

Prohibitions, voluntary agreements

For PBDE, the following regulations and voluntary agreements are currently of relevance in Germany:

There is evidence that PBDEs can form dioxins and furans. Therefore, these substances are subject to the provisions of the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance, which provides that substances or products which exceed the limit values laid down for polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins and furans are not to be put into circulation. Significant quantities of dioxins and furans, mainly brominated ones, can already be formed during the processing of PBDE-protected plastics, so that the above regulation indirectly rules out the use of PBDEs as flame retardants. The same applies to PBBs by analogy.

For PBBs and TRIS, additional provisions are laid down in the Foodstuffs and Commodities Act. They apply to commodities in whose manufacture textiles are used. Protective clothing is exempted. Similar provisions are contained in EU Directive 83/264/EEC.

In 1989, the Chemical Industry Association (VCI) and the Association of the Plastics Producing Industry (VKE), in a statement to the Federal Government, voluntarily agreed to discontinue the production and further use of PBDEs and PBBs.

Soft regulation

In addition, for various product categories (e.g. personal computers) requirements have been established within the framework of Germany's Environmental Label, the Blue Angel. For example, an award of the label to these products is possible only if no halogenated organic flame retardants have been used in their manufacture. Only components that are exposed to particularly high temperatures (as of printers) are exempted from this requirement.

Assessments

A research project dealing with flame retardants is being carried out by the Federal Environmental Agency since 1 September 1998. The relevance of flame retardants on the German market will be determined over a two-year period. For selected product categories, alternative substances and designs will then be identified and evaluated. In a third step, selected alternative flame retardants will be assessed in terms of their environmental and toxicological properties.

International commitments

Germany is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

German Dioxin Ordinance

The German government adopted in 1994 a second modification of the Chemicals Prohibition Ordinance which imposes limits on chlorinated dioxins and furans, as well as on brominated dioxins and furans. Prohibitions apply to products (which could contain brominated flame retardants), if they contain these pollutants above certain levels. This has an impact on the recycling of flame retarded materials.

The German Dioxin Ordinance specifies the maximum allowable quantities of 2,3,7,8-substituted chlorinated or brominated dioxins and furans that can be present in products marketed in Germany. With respect to brominated dioxins and furans, the Ordinance prohibits any product containing more than 10 ppb of the sum of four congeners :

Secondly, the Ordinance prohibits any product containing more than 60 ppb of the sum of eight congeners :

These levels will drop to 1 and 5 parts per thousand million (ppb), respectively, in July 1999. Parts weighing less than 50 grams are excluded from these requirements.

Italy

No risk reduction actions have been taken on brominated flame retardants as a result of government requirements. However, some risk reduction measures have been taken on a voluntary basis by some public organisations and industries to exclude the use of halogenated flame retardants.

Japan

The Japanese actions are solely based on voluntary industrial initiatives.

Japan industries restrict voluntarily the production and use of PBBs, hexa-bromodiphenyl ether (HxBDE) and tetrabromodiphenyl ether (TeBDE).

Norway

Prohibitions, voluntary agreements

Norway has banned the use of PBBs and TRIS in textiles intended to come in contact with the skin.

Soft regulation

In 1997 national objectives of the phase out of chemicals dangerous to health and environment were decided. To ensure a sufficiently fast release-reduction of the most dangerous chemicals, specific objectives were set for these. According to this, the release of brominated flame retardants shall be reduced significantly before the year 2010.

Assessments

In relation to the preparation of The Fourth North See Conference in 1995, a preliminary substance flow analysis was made. The analysis focused at the use of brominated flame retardants in Norwegian produced goods.

A more comprehensive substance flow analysis is planned to be carried out during the year of 1999.

International commitments

Norway is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

The Netherlands

Prohibitions, voluntary agreements

In the early nineties, a Dutch Decree was prepared to phase out PBBs and PBDEs, and prohibit having these compounds or products or preparations containing these substances in stock, or to make them available to third parties. The decree has never come into force. Instead, the Dutch minister made an agreement with the industry about a volunteer phase out of PBBs and PBDEs.

The Dutch government has declared that it will not take any measures, as long as the trend in the use of PBBs and PBDEs is declining. The use of PBBs and PBDEs by Dutch companies is monitored yearly. In 1998 an evaluation of the voluntary agreement was planned to be made. At the beginning of 1999 this evaluation was not initiated.

Assessments

In 1990 a risk assessment of PBBs and PBDEs was published. It was on the basis of this risk assessment, the Dutch government in the early 1990s proposed a resolution governing these PBBs and PBDE. In 1994 a re-evaluation was carried out on the most important aspects of the risks of these compounds. The results were interpreted as less serious to human beings and environment than the results from the first assessment.

International commitments

The Netherlands is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

Sweden

Prohibitions, voluntary agreements

Sweden has banned the use of PBBs and TRIS in textiles intended to come in contact with the skin. This executive order is the implementation of EU directive 76/769.

Soft regulation

The Swedish government states in the bill 1997/98:145 that

In Sweden, brominated flame retardants have been put on a list of undesirable substances' (Begränsningslistan).

There are two systems for ecolabels in Sweden, the TCO’95 and the Nordic Swan. The ecolabel systems restrict the use of BFRs. The two systems are described below in section 5.4.

The Swedish IT organisation has developed an ECO declaration that enables the consumer to get information if PBBs or PBDEs are present in larger plastic parts, for example housings, enclosures and chassis.

Assessments

Sweden has assigned HBCD for risk assessment under EC Council Regulation 793/93, which requires Sweden to propose any risk reduction action required.

Since 1991 the Swedish authorities have initiated a range of studies examining varying aspect of flame retardants including brominated flame retardants.

In 1998 the Swedish authorities, KemI, sent out inquiries to companies handling goods potentially containing PBBs and PBDE. The knowledge about flame retardants was feeble, and questionnaires had to be forwarded to suppliers. The investigation indicated that PBDEs is used in cars produced in Asia and America and in components used in electronics.

A project is running at the Swedish Institute of Production Engineering Research with the objective of establishing a dialogue between various actors in the field of flame retardants, worldwide. One of the objectives is to demonstrate the use of halogen-free, flame retardant solutions for printed wiring boards and printed board assemblies.

International commitments

Sweden is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

Switzerland

Manufacture, supply, import and use of PBBs and terphenyls and products containing these substances, have been prohibited. By the same ordinance, supply and import of capacitors and transformers containing halogenated aromatic substances such as polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyls, halogenated diarylalkanes or halogenated benzene have been banned.

International commitments

Switzerland is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

United Kingdom

Prohibitions

The UK has implemented EC Directives restricting the use of tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (TRIS) and PBBs in textiles.

Assessments

The UK Department of the Environment has commissioned research aimed at developing techniques for risk-benefit analyses. PBDEs has been studied in a pilot project. Furan generation in fires and the possible bioaccumulation of PBDEs degradation products through the food chain are issues of concern that the UK believes should be investigated further.

The UK and France have jointly assigned DeBDE and OcBDE for risk assessment under the EC Council Regulation 793/93 which requires them to propose any risk reduction action required. Additionally the UK have assigned PeBDE.

The Department of Trade and Industry Consumer Safety Unit initiated in 1998 a report, investigating the risks and benefits of flame retardants in consumer products /100/.

International commitments

United Kingdom is committed to the declaration from The Fourth North Sea Conference, where special attention is devoted to the substitution of brominated flame retardants by less hazardous substances.

United States

Prohibitions, voluntary agreements

The industry has voluntarily discontinued the use and the production of PBBs in the late 1970s. The Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has issued a Significant New Use Rule that requires anyone intending to resume the manufacture of eight specified PBBs to notify EPA 90 days prior to manufacture.

Assessments

The US authorities have the following three level risk assessment strategy, where special attention is devoted to the formation of dioxins and furans:

It has not been possible to clarify, if these risk studies have been finished, and what conclusions have been drawn.

5.4    Ecolabels

Ecolabels are one of the main tools in the soft regulation of - among other issues - chemicals in the products as well as process related auxiliaries. In the following, the requirements regarding brominated flame retardants of four of the - to the Danish market - most important ecolabel systems are described. Furthermore, the described systems are the most widespread ecolabels in Northern Europe.

The included ecolabels are:

The table above gives a comprehensive view of product groups in which requirements regarding brominated flame retardants are included in the four ecolabelling systems. Along with this, the requirements regarding brominated flame retardants that must be fulfilled, the number of applicants and the number of products are described in the table.

Other national ecolabels

In Europe a number of national ecolabelling systems except the above mentioned exists. These are the Spanish ecolabel - "AENOR Medio Ambiente", the Catalonian ecolabel - "El Distintiu", the Dutch Ecolabel - "Milieukeur", and the Austrian Ecolabel - "Umweltzeichen". These labels are not included in this survey, but they do state requirements on the use of brominated flame retardants in some product groups.

Requirements

Some of the specific product requirements described abowe in the table do not state requirements directly on brominated flame retardants, but on the use of halogenated organic compounds in general. This is notably the case with the German Blue Angel.

When brominated flame retardants are mentioned directly, the compounds most often are polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).

In general, the German Blue Angel also requires the use of non-carcinogenic alternative flame retardants where brominated flame retardants are prohibited, but flame retardancy necessary.

Computers and textiles where the Nordic Swan and the Blue Angel do state requirements to the content of brominated flame retardants, are under development within the EU flower. The requirements stated in the draft version are included in the table. In two relevant product groups - "Dishwashers" and "Refrigerators and Freezers" - no requirements are stated to the content of brominated flame retardants from the EU flower.

Both the Scandinavian Swan and the German Blue Angel have six relevant product groups with registered applicants and products. The Swan has four product groups without applicants, and the Blue Angel has one. In general, the empty product groups are relatively new.

Parts > 25 g    For personal computers and other office machines there are specific requirements for plastic parts >25 g. For personal computers the requirements stated by the Nordic Swan and German Blue Angel only regard housing/enclosure. The TCO 95 and the draft version of the EU Flower require that all plastic parts >25 g are not to contain flame retardants with organic bound bromine.

The 25 g corresponds to a FR4 laminate of approximately 20x30 cm (600 cm2). A personal computer contains approximately 2.700 cm2 separated on a number of printed circuit boards.

Table 5.2
The requirements of four important ecolabels and the number of awarded products and applicants.