BISPHENOL A
The legal framework governing the use of bisphenol A is becoming increasingly stringent.
Since June 2010, the manufacture and importation of baby bottles made from BPA has been banned in Europe (Regulation (EU) No 321/2011).
Regulation in France
In France, the national parliament has passed Law no. 2012-1442 of 24 December 2012, banning the use of bisphenol A (BPA) in packaging, containers or kitchen tools likely to come into contact with food, with effect from the 1st of January 2013 for food products for children under three years of age, and from 1st of January 2015 for the rest of the population. The full text of the law and the documents that led to its adoption can be viewed (in French) here: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/dossiers/conditionnement_alimentair...
Regulation in the EU
Following the work of the European Agency for Food Safety, the European Commission has notified the World Trade Organization of its intention to reduce the specific migration limit of BPA in food packaging to 0.05 mg / kg, this limit being currently of 0.6 mg / kg (see https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2016/TBT/EEC/16_1013_00_e.pdf).
In addition, a more restrictive regulation may be applied in European Union to other uses of bisphenol A
Following a proposal by France, the European Commission amended Annex XVII of Regulation: thermal papers (receipts, paper for facsimile fax ...) comprising more than 0.02% by weight of bisphenol A will not be placed on the European market. Dated 12th December 2016, the decision will come into force in January 2020.
To prevent an inappropriate substitution of BPA by BPS (which is suspected to have similar effects as BPA on human health), ECHA should carry out, among others actions, a survey in 2017 on the use of BPS in thermal papers. The Commission will then evaluate the need to propose a restriction of BPS in thermal papers.
For additional information: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R2235&from=FR
Moreover, the European Commission has amended the Annex II of the Directive 2009/48/EC on the safety of toys, including a migration limit of 0.04 mg / L for bisphenol A. Registered in July 2016, this amendment will apply from 2018.
For more information: https://echa.europa.eu/chemicals-in-our-life/hot-topics/bisphenol-a
Furthermore, in 2014, at the initiative of France, the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) of ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) expressed its support for a stricter classification of bisphenol-A. ECHA then submitted its opinion to the European Commission, which voted in July 2016 for a more stringent classification of bisphenol A in the CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging Regulation ) by modifying its toxicity level from the category "suspected reprotoxic" (Category 2) to "presumed toxic for reproduction" (Category 1B). Registered on the 19 July 2016, this amendment will apply from the 1st of March 2018.
For more information: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32016R1179&from=EN
Proposed by France, bisphenol A was identified by the Member State Committee as SVHC (Substance of Very High Concern) due to its toxic reproduction properties (BPA has been classified reprotoxic in the Category 1B since 19/06/16), in addition on the 16th June 2017, bisphenol was again identified as SVHC, but this time due to its endocrine disrupting properties.This decision, taken on the 19 December 2016, implies the addition of bisphenol A to the list of candidate substances to the Annex XIV of the REACH Regulation. This annex lists substances for which authorization is necessary in order to place them on the market of the European Union (regarding uses targeted by the REACH Regulation).
For additional information: https://echa.europa.eu/-/member-state-committee-issues-four-svhc-agreements-and-two-opinions
https://echa.europa.eu/fr/-/msc-unanimously-agrees-that-bisphenol-a-is-an-endocrine-disruptor
OTHER BISPHENOLS
To date, the other bisphenols are not very well identified and mentioned in Regulations. For example, bisphenols F and S are not included in Annex VI to the CLP Regulation and therefore do not have harmonized labeling at EU level. In Europe, bisphenol S is allowed in plastics and articles intended to come into contact with food, with a migration rate of 0.05 mg / kg (Commission Regulation 10/2011). Other bisphenols are not mentioned in this Regulation and are therefore prohibited in plastics and articles intended to come into contact with food.
For more information: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:012:0001:0089:en:PDF
However, the European Commission requested the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to assess how bisphenol S is used as an alternative to bisphenol A and if it represents a risk to human health. If a risk is identified, the European Commission could request ECHA to prepare a restriction dossier under the REACH Regulation in order to ban Bisphenol S in thermal papers, which is conventionally used as alternative to BPA for this application.
For more information: https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13641/echa_rest_proposals_rubber_granules_en.pdf
The above internet links were active as of June 22, 2017.