The Federal Office of Public Health, Switzerland, on 28 June 2022 published a draft amendment of Annexes 2, 3, 4, and 7 of the Ordinance on Protection against Dangerous Substances and Preparations (Chemicals Ordinance).

Annex 2 is the technical regulations for the classification, labelling and packaging of substances. It will be updated and adapted to technical progress in the EU from November 23, 2023. The draft revises the list of harmonized classifications and updates it to include 39 substances, amends 17 existing entries and one existing entry was split into two. Also, the newest developments in test methods for substances and preparations (OECD) are adopted in this draft revision.

For Annex 3, four substances are added to the candidate list of substances of very high concern (SVHC). The requirements in Annex 4 (technical dossier for notifications) are updated based on the specifications for registrations in the EU. And three entries are eliminated from Annex 7, the list of new substances for which notification is not required.

With these revisions, the agency aims to protect human health and the environment and reduce trade barriers to enhance trade in Switzerland. The last day for comments is July 15, 2022, and the proposed date of adoption is July 29, 2022. The changes are expected to come into force on September 1, 2022.

After identifying 388 Food Contact Chemicals (FCCs) as “of concern” substances, Swiss researchers from the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) called for such substances to be phased out. These substances that are listed as being “intentionally added” to Food Contact Materials (FCMs) in the FPF’s FCC database (FCCdb) include:

• Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or Reprotoxic substances (CMRs),
• Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), and
• Persistent and Bioaccumulative substances (PBs). 

The database for the migrating and extractable FCCs, FCCmigex as labeled by FPF, has also listed some of the aforementioned substances, where 97 of such chemicals were found evidently migrating from FCMs. Part-funded by environmental NGO Zero Waste Europe, the research league including colleagues at ETH Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology spotted the need to investigate a wider range of FCCs in extraction and migration experiments; the ultimate calling is that no untested substances and no hazardous chemicals shall be present in FCMs.