Overview

• The EU Court of Justice dismissed industry challenges and confirmed ECHA’s 2022 decision to list melamine as a candidate SVHC under REACH.
• ECHA based its assessment on studies indicating melamine’s probable serious effects on human health and the environment, including potential carcinogenicity.
• Germany’s Federal Institute for Risk Assessment found that heat exposure can cause melamine to leach from kitchen utensils and plastic dinnerware.
• Under the SVHC listing, manufacturers must disclose melamine content above 0.1%, granting consumers rights to information and obliging professional users and ECHA to be informed.
• Companies have the option to appeal to the European Court of Justice’s higher chamber, but the classification and transparency requirements remain in force.