european union legislation on endocrine disruptors in march 2014 the united states noted that the european union planned to publish a road ma outlining different options and a preliminary impact assessment in its process to assess classify and regulate endocrine disruptors. the united states urged the european union to swiftly notify the roadmap any future proposals and the draft impact assessment and to take into account comments from members. the united states requested that the european union explain its endocrine disruptor assessment program particularly the timing for public consultations as well as the timeframe for notifications and the manner in which members comments would be taken into consideration. the european union highlighted that several segments of its legislation contained provisions on endocrine disruptors however scientific criteria for the identification of endocrine disruptor substances were not yet available. the european union noted that it had planned to propose scientific criteria to identify endocrine disruptors in its biocidal products regulation and plant protection products regulation by december 2013. in light of the potential impacts of a choice of criteria however the european commission decided to carry out a comprehensive impact assessment to analyze the different policy options available to define criteria for the identification of endocrine disruptors before making a revised proposal. this process was underway and the next ste would be publication of a roadmap within the coming weeks outlining the various policy options for the criteria to be assessed. the impact assessment would follow standard eu guidelines take into account existing scientific studies and reports relevant international on-going work on this subject and the impact on international trade. the european union further clarified that a public consultation would be launched as part of the process in the course of 2014 enabling all stakeholders and trading partners to provide their input. in march 2015 the united states raised concerns regarding the eu public consultation on defining criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors in the context of the implementation of the plant protection product regulation and biocidal products regulation. the united states questioned the scientific evidence considered in developing and selecting each of the options presented in the roadma and feared that risk might have not been taken into account. implementation of any hazard-based cut off option that did not consider risk from actual exposure could have severe implications for eu imports of agricultural goods including those from the united states. furthermore banning chemicals and pesticides solely based on endocrine-disrupting properties might incentivize the use of more dangerous products simply because they do not present endocrine-disrupting properties. the united states encouraged the european union to explain in a public document how significant stakeholders comments would be taken into account and urged the commission to adopt an approach that fully considered the vital role that pesticide chemicals play in food safety and security. argentina brazil canada china colombia costa rica guatemala india kenya madagascar malaysia mexico nigeria pakistan south africa and uruguay shared the us concern regarding the socio-economic effects that the eu measure would have on their countries if the legislation was to be approved. various members asked if the european union had considered conducting an economic impact assessment for such a regulation and looked forward to being further informed. the european union noted that there was currently no new eu legislative proposal on defining criteria for identifying endocrine disruptors. the european commission was in the process of conducting a full impact assessment where all health environmental and socio-economic aspects including impacts on international trade would be addressed. following