G/TBT/W/700  
 
27 November 2019  
(19-8150) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
EUROPEAN UNION – REGULATION (EC) NO 1272 /2008 (CLP REGULATIO N)  
STATEMENT BY  THE RUSSIAN FEDERAT ION TO THE COMMITTEE ON  
TECHNICAL BARRIERS T O TRADE  13 – 15 NOVEMBER  2019 
The following communication, dated 13 November  2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Russian Federation . 
 
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1.  The delegation of the Russian Federation would also like to thank the EU delegation for the 
bilateral work in Moscow and Brussels on this issue.  
2.  Howev er, with deep regret, we have to express our raising concern with regard to the proposed 
classification of cobalt according to the draft of the 14th ATP to CLP adopted by the European 
Commission on the 4th October 2019.  
3.  First, we have to highlight the abso lute lack of transparency of this classification's elaboration 
process as there are no minutes, summaries or any other publicly available official information about 
the CARACAL meetings that took place in July and September. Moreover, both the membership a nd 
the basic rights of the third countries within the frameworks of those meetings are limited. In 
addition, as far as we understand the EU's explanation of the process, the third countries represented 
at the CARACAL must coordinate their joint position. S uch state of things seems strange to us. If 
the above understanding is correct, then it unfairly limits the stakeholders' rights and their 
opportunities to express their opinion.  
4.  Second, we know that the comments of the third countries and even Europe's ow n business 
associations on cobalt classification have been completely side -lined and ignored, as the 
classification has already been adopted by the Commission but there has yet been no response from 
the European Commission during the "consultation " period.  We have to point out to the Commission 
that it resorts to a consultation practice and routinely ignores stakeholders.  
5.  Third, in the context of our bilateral work with the Commission, it has openly resorted to the 
hazard – based approach, which directly c ontradicts the UN GHS, considered to be the best 
international practice. In accordance with the Art. 2.4 of the Agreement on TBT, technical regulations 
should be based on the international standards and best practices.  
6.  Fourth, the Commission has confirmed the lack of scientific data to classify cobalt metal as 
carcinogen 1 b for all routes of exposure, but it still deems it possible to classify cobalt in such an 
unjustifiable manner. Due to the lack of well -grounded scientific evidence, we consider this mea sure 
to constitute an unnecessary obstacle to trade to fulfil the requirements under the Art. 2.2 of the 
Agreement on TBT, even bearing in mind the fact that the measure will be implemented as labelling 
requirement.  
7.  Fifth, we are deeply concerned that a ne w draft of the 14th ATP, that had not been notified in 
the WTO, was published on the official website of the Commission on the 26th of August 2019. That 
draft stated that the Commission had received more than thirty comments on cobalt, however, from 
the Co mmission's point of view, these were not strong enough to reconsider the Commission's 
position on the proposed classification. Moreover, as we know now, the Commission moved to the 
14th ATP adoption on the 4th of October 2019. We have to point out that the  abovementioned G/TBT/W/700  
 
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  document fails to provide any explanation to the Commission's dismissal of the arguments and 
provides no justification whatsoever for such an approach.  
8.  Sixth, we are aware of the statement, made by the DG -Envy during the bilateral meeting w ith 
the delegation of another third country about possible exemptions. For instance, medical devices, 
due to their critical importance, are not likely to be covered by the proposed measure. There have 
been other examples as well. We have to remind the Comm ission that neither REACH nor CLP contain 
provisions that allow such exemptions. For this reason, we ask for clarification, because, as far as 
we can understand the current situation, DG - Environment has either misled those delegates or 
proposed to implem ent exemptions that are illegitimate according to the WTO rules, including the 
Art. 2.1 of the Agreement on TBT and the I Art. of the GATT 1994.  
9.  Seventh, the Commission has failed to produce the results of the socio -economic analysis of the 
consequences of  the proposed cobalt classification, which goes against international best practice as 
well as the Commission's own policy.  
10.  Eighth, we ask the EU delegation to give us information about the replies on the letters sent to 
the European Commission.  
11.  It is wit h deepest regret that we have to observe that the cobalt metal classification is only the 
first step, taken by the Commission, towards applying these deeply flawed unscientific approaches 
for classification of chemicals and mixtures to other chemicals with  the explicit purpose to distort 
global trade, disrupt manufacturing and added value chains creation.  
12.  Taking into account these factors, we question if the Commission's actions and approaches are 
consistent with the WTO rules, which demand well -grounded s cientific data when elaborating 
technical regulations in according with the Article 2.2 of the Agreement on TBT.  
13.  In conclusion, we ask the EU delegation to reconsider this classification, to take into account its 
socio-economic consequences provided by bot h the Russian delegation and global industry, the 
results of the planned scientific studies as well as the comments made by other WTO delegations, 
stakeholders, the European and foreign manufacturers of steel, stainless steel, nickel, and multi -
metallic al loys and products.  
14.  On that note, we also formally ask you to provide us with access to all the documents of the 
past CARACAL meetings including minutes, summaries and any other relevant information. 
Moreover, the Russian Federation would like to submit an application for participation in the 
CARACAL's meetings. We would appreciate some practical help from our European partners on this 
subject.  
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