Mr. John Chave:

One can, therefore, protect the trade element. There is no doubt about it, if Ireland goes out on a limb, it will cause problems in trade within the EU and with the US and so on. Ireland probably does not want to do that. The UK definition is broader than the US definition and all of the other definitions currently in place in the Union. The UK approach is something the industry can live with. While there would probably need to be a lot of reformulation, we will just take that on the chin and do it. Beyond that one can get into problems, and not just with trade. There would also be the sheer cost of having to reformulate thousands and thousands of products. When I release our ECHA submission to the committee, the members will see an analysis of different scenarios in which polymers could be restricted - not just microplastics - and what that would mean for reformulations and the impacts on industry.

In a nutshell, I urge the committee to align with the UK for the time being. The UK approach goes slightly beyond what other jurisdictions are doing in the EU. It means there would need to be some reformulation, but I believe that the industry could probably live with that. Beyond that one is likely to get into problems.