The annual report made by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), under the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulations on imports and exports of chemicals that are banned, or severely restricted, in the EU shows that imports of most hazardous chemicals to the Union decreased by 56% in 2023.
However, substances containing benzene continued to dominate trade in the year under review.
Benzene, as a constituent of other substances in concentrations equal to, or greater than 0.1% by weight, was included in Annex I of the PIC Regulations on 1 July 2022. In 2023, it accounted for 98% of total exports and approximately 99% of total imports.
Exports of pesticides continued to decrease for a second year in a row, the ECHA noted. From 2022 to 2023, the reported exports of pesticides fell by 10% (from 192,674 to 173,451 tonnes), while from 2021 to 2022, the decrease was 21%.
Over 530 companies from 23 EU countries provided data to the ECHA on the exports of PIC chemicals from the EU in 2023. Four EU countries (Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg and Malta) and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) declared that they had not exported PIC chemicals.
Some 200 companies from 23 EU Member States submitted data on imports of PIC chemicals into the EU in 2023. Four of these — (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta) — declared that they had not imported PIC chemicals, as did the UK for Northern Ireland.
