Coatings, regulations and the environment reviewed

European legislation has both quickened and intensified over the last decade. The proliferating adaptations to the Dangerous Substances Directive and the New Solvent Directive are cases in point. In fact, the real effect of legislation which strikes at the very heart of the coatings industry is found in six areas classification and labelling, market restrictions, the notification of new chemicals, the risk assessment of existing chemicals, the occupational exposure limits and VOC controls. Industry itself has learned to work within the framework of regulatory requirements. Indeed, a subtle change is making itself felt - a voluntary self-regulatory impulse arising from the grassroots, which, collectively and individually, is beginning to espouse environmental correctness. A compliance culture had been born.