News

In mid-July 2025, our long-standing employees Karin Heine and Eva Kaiser took over the management of Jan Oltmanns. We have been preparing for this step for a long time to ensure a smooth transition. Mr Oltmanns will remain with the company and take on the role of authorised signatory. On 1 August 2025, Anne Bierwisch, Henrike Berkefeld, Aileen Fiand, Stephanie Kraft and Melanie Macherey also joined the GmbH as shareholders, while Klaus Schneider stepped down from this role after 33 years. With this step, 10 of the 13 employees are now shareholders of FoBiG.

IUCLID 6 Version 9.0.1 has been available since 27 May 2025. This version marks the start of activities relating to the positive lists for drinking water contact materials. Applications relating to the EU positive list for drinking water contact materials pursuant to Section 11 of the Drinking Water Directive (Directive (EU) 2020/2184) must be announced in advance via a ‘notification of intention’. These notifications can be submitted from January 2026. Are you ready for this step? We are happy to assist you with any questions, the preparation of the notification of intention and with the subsequent applications.

On 29 April ECHA published the awaited Chromates Restriction proposal on ECHA’s website.

ECHA proposes an EU-wide ban on Cr(VI) substances, except for the following use categories (UC), provided they comply with defined limit values for worker exposure and environmental emissions:

UC 1 - Formulation of mixtures
UC 2 - Electroplating of plastic substrate
UC 3 - Electroplating on metal substrate
UC 4 - Use of primers and other slurries
UC 5 - Other surface treatments
UC 6 - Functional additives and processing aids

According to the proposal, a restriction under Annex XVII of REACH is expected to take effect in 2028, with a proposed uniform transition period of 18 months.

The proposed restriction will be subject to a public consultation, which is expected to start on 18 June 2025, and which will run for six months. During the public consultation input can be provided from all concerned stakeholders.

We advise all affected actors to analyse the scope and conditions of the restriction proposal and to examine its impact on any of their own activities.

If you need assistance in analysing the impact of the restriction proposal for your business, or in submitting a meaningful comment during the public consultation, or with any other challenges arising from the restriction proposal, FoBiG will be happy to support you.

FoBiG is working on a new project on behalf of the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA). In the EU, major efforts are currently underway to regulate PFAS more to mitigate long-term effects on health and the environment. Currently it is not possible to assess potential exposure to PFAS via indoor air, as no guidance values for indoor air have yet been derived. Furthermore, health-based assessment values (so-called LCI values, LCI: lowest concentration of interest) for the evaluation of possible PFAS emissions from building products are also still lacking. The aim of the project is therefore to identify and evaluate relevant PFAS released into the gas phase of indoor air by means of a literature search.

FoBiG has started a new project on behalf of the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA).

Vector-associated diseases in humans, such as e. g. Lyme borreliosis, are serious diseases. The occurrence of corresponding vectors (restricted to arthropods such as mosquitoes and ticks) in Germany may be influenced by climate change, but also by other factors and is therefore an important issue for public health and occupational safety.

The current FoBiG research aims to identify the relevant biocidal products and treated articles available in Germany for protection against vectors and to record trends in their quantities from the last 10 years. The research is completed by the search for existing literature on the exposure of employees to these products and treated goods during their use and the occupational safety measures used worldwide to protect against the vectors.

The final report on the project is expected in the second half of 2025.
 

For some years now, the European Commission has been working on having emissions from building products assessed in a standardised manner in order to be able to provide uniform and sustainable criteria for consumer protection throughout Europe. As reported, FoBiG has repeatedly been involved in the derivation of these values (‘Lowest concentration of interest’, or ‘EU-LCI values’ for short). A new report has now been published in which five substances have been assessed: 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylphenol (BHT), benzyl alcohol, dipropylene glycol monomethylether (DPGME), n-butyl acrylate and 2-ethylhexyl acrylate. FoBiG contributions relate to benzyl alcohol and DPGME. The result is published here.
Further background information on EU LCI values can also be found at UBA.

As 2024 draws to a close, we look back on interesting developments that will keep us busy in the future. Among other elements of the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, the new hazard classes of the CLP Regulation will require the       (re-)evaluation of numerous chemicals in the coming years, as will the new regulatory framework for substances used in drinking water contact materials. Before we address these and other exciting tasks, we would like to thank all our friends, business partners and customers for the excellent and trusting cooperation.

The FoBiG team wishes you a relaxing break and a good start to the new year.

The long-awaited update of the CLP Guidance is available on the ECHA website since November 2024. Instead of finding all the information in one document as before, the integration of the new hazard classes (endocrine disruptors with an effect on human or environmental health; persistent substances - PBT/vPvB and PMT/vPvM) has made it necessary to split it into five individual documents. This means that ECHA has provided the necessary guidelines for classification shortly before the May 1, 2025 deadline for substances newly placed on the market from then on. We are still waiting for important revisions of the sections on already existing hazard classes, such as the inclusion of the OECD Guideline No. 497 “Defined Approaches on Skin Sensitization”.

Epoxy resin systems are among the most frequent triggers of occupational allergic skin diseases. In addition to the resins, other ingredients, such as some reactive diluents, also contribute to the contact sensitising effect. The sensitising potency of the ingredients can vary and has been investigated by FoBiG in various DGUV-funded projects (DGUV FP-0324, FP-0384 and FP-0451). The DGUV publication (only in German) contains information on the safe handling of epoxy resin systems. It provides technical, organisational and personal protective measures for working with epoxy resin systems, either in general or tailored to specific areas of activity. As part of the examination of possible substitutions, reference is made to the EIS mixture calculator developed by FoBiG (EIS-Gemischerechner: currently only available in German).

Materials that come into contact with water intended for human consumption must fulfil certain minimum requirements. Therefore, only substances (as starting substances, compositions and constituents) that are on the corresponding positive lists may be used to manufacture these materials. In April 2024, the legal acts defining the positive lists, the information requirements and the administrative procedure for updating the European positive list were published in accordance with the requirements of Article 11 of the Drinking Water Directive. From the end of 2025, it will be possible to notify ECHA of the intention to propose changes to the European positive lists. From the end of 2026, applications for amendments (including applications for additions or deletions) to the European positive lists can be submitted to ECHA. We are happy to assist you with any questions, the preparation of applications and planning for future applications.

At the invitation of the "Chemical Assessment" working group of the "Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology" division of the German Chemical Society (GDCh), Jan Oltmanns presented the study on data requirements and risk assessment methods for EFSA, which was prepared together with RPA Europe, at the working group meeting on 18 April 2024 (see "News" of 8 January 2024). A summary of the presentation can be found in issue 2/2024 of the division’s journal (“Mitteilungen der Fachgruppe Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie”, which can be downloaded here  (in German only).

The assessment and labeling of material emissions from building products into indoor air is the basis for sustainable criteria for consumer protection in this area. To be able to refer to uniform values throughout Europe, the European Commission has begun to raise harmonised classifications. The Federal Environment Agency of Germany (UBA) supports these efforts at the German level. It has already commissioned several expert reports during the last years to develop harmonised EU LCI values. FoBiG has been involved in several of them. The most recent report about the substances β-pinene, other terpenes, pentanols, 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (CIT) and 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (MIT) has just been published. FoBiG prepared the substance report for CIT and MIT and derived the EU LCI values for these substances.

Background information on EU LCI values can also be found on the UBA website.