Mercury: Council ready to start talks with Parliament to completely phase out mercury in the EU

Today the Council adopted its negotiating mandate for talks with the European Parliament on a proposal to phase out the use of dental amalgam and prohibit the manufacturing, import and export of a number of mercury-added products, including certain lamps. The proposal addresses the residual remaining uses of mercury in products in the EU, with a view to establishing a mercury-free Europe.

The negotiating mandate, which was agreed at Coreper level, sets out the Council’s position for the start of negotiations (‘trilogues’) with the Parliament to shape the final text of the legislation.

While current rules already forbid the use of dental amalgam for treating teeth in children under 15 years old and pregnant or breastfeeding women, the amendments extend the prohibition to everybody in the EU. The Council maintained the Commission’s proposed date for the total phase-out in the EU, 1 January 2025, except when the use of dental amalgam is deemed strictly necessary by the dental practitioner to address specific medical needs of the patient. However, it introduced a two-year derogation for those member states where low-income individuals would otherwise be socio-economically disproportionally affected by a phase-out date of 1 January 2025. Those member states will have to well justify their use of the derogation and notify the Commission of the measures they intend to implement to achieve the phase-out by 1 January 2027.

While the Council maintained the prohibition to export dental amalgam from 1 January 2025 as proposed by the Commission, it agreed to ban the manufacturing and import in the EU from 1 January 2027.

Six additional mercury-containing lamps would be made subject to a manufacturing, import and export ban as from 1 January 2026 and 1 January 2028, depending on the type of lamps.

Next steps

The Council is now ready to start negotiations with the European Parliament to agree on the final shape of the amendments. Once a provisional agreement has been reached, the final text will need to be formally adopted by both institutions.

Background

The EU mercury regulation is one of the key EU instruments transposing the Minamata Convention, an international treaty signed in 2013 to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. The 2017 regulation covers the full-life cycle of mercury, from primary mining to waste disposal, contributing to the ultimate EU objective to limit and phase out the use, manufacturing and export of mercury and mercury-added products over time, as spelled out in the EU strategy on mercury.

In July 2023, the Commission proposed a targeted revision of the regulation to address the remaining use of mercury in the EU in line with the EU’s zero pollution ambition. The proposed amendments call for complete ban on the use, manufacture and export of dental amalgam for dental treatment and certain types of mercury-added lamps.