Validation workshop for study on the cumulative cost assessment for the EU chemical industry

The study on the cumulative cost assessment for the EU chemical industry was launched in July 2014, for a period of 15 months. As specified in the terms of reference, a validation workshop will be organised by the Commission so as to enable all interested stakeholders and the Commission services to provide their final comments and contribute to the robustness test, which will be carried out on the results of the study.

Main objectives of the validation workshop:

• a peer review of the study prior to its publication: independent external experts will present their views on the validity of the methodology, the collection of cost data and on the final results for further discussion;.
• open discussion on the key findings of the study, aimed at verifying the robustness of the results of the study;.
• first orientations on how to interpret the results of the study in view of the competitiveness of the European chemical industry.

Who will attend?

DG Growth with the contractor Technopolis Group;  interested stakeholders (industry representatives from chemical and related sectors; Member States; NGOs; academia; trade unions; research institutes, etc.) and other Commission Directorates General (DG Environment, DG Climate Action, Secretariat General, DG Energy, DG Employment, DG Research and Innovation, DG Trade, JRC Petten, JRC Seville, EUROSTAT), Agencies (ECHA Helsinki, etc.) who were engaged in the study process by being active in the so-called inter-service Steering group. 

Structure of the workshop:

The main focus will be on the discussion and validation of the preliminary results of the study on regulatory costs, based on feedback from chemical companies, within the different subsectors of the chemical industry.

The contractor will present the overall methodology, including how the data on the costs has been collected and validated. They will also present the preliminary conclusions of this analysis. Participants will have the opportunity to express their views on the results. The workshop will be organised in three sessions, based on introductory remarks from the contractor and a ‘peer-reviewer’.