Fears are growing that proposed European safety legislation will push up the price of cement
The legislation, known as Reach (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), will force companies to disclose data on all the chemicals they produce in the course of making of cement.

The Construction Products Association said that the introduction of the registration process would push the cost of cement up.

Rita Singh, policy development executive at the CPA, said: "We feel there will be a lot of duplication of data, which will increase costs to both users and manufacturers."

The CPA added that its material safety data sheets carried sufficient health and safety information for users.

The Reach process is designed to identify potentially harmful chemicals before they are produced. Cement is covered by the proposals because the European Commission has decided that a chemical reaction takes place during cement preparation.

Under Reach, cement firms would have to register their products with a European Chemical Agency. The chemicals would then be authorised and evaluated by the ECA, which may lead to further testing.

It will be a huge burden on cement manufacturers if they go along that path

Willem Van Loo, technical director, Cembureau

Willem Van Loo, technical director with Cembureau, a trade body for the European cement industry, said the cement industry was outraged by the proposals.

"It will be a huge burden for cement manufacturers if they have to go along that path," he said. He added that cement is covered by stringent standards within the European construction products directive.

The draft legislation will now go before the European parliament and the Council of Ministers.