Amazon expands chemicals policy to cover EU

Major online retailer Amazon has expanded its chemicals policy to cover its own branded products in the EU. The company announced its chemicals management policy for its own products in the US last October. However, when announcing the policy it said it would expand the product categories, brands and geographies covered "over time". The policy introduced a restricted substances list (RSL) that identified 54 chemicals it is seeking to avoid in Amazon-owned private brand baby, household cleaning, personal care and beauty products And the policy says that part of the company’s commitment to quality is avoiding chemicals of concern in products, which it defines as carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (CMR), or persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT), as classified by regulatory authorities including the US EPA and Echa. The company has not disclosed why it has expanded its policy to cover the EU, or what was behind the timing. And it would not comment on whether it has plans to expand its policy to cover more chemicals, more private labelled product categories, or all products sold on its platform.