Nickel in stainless steel will not be subject to the hazardous substances requirements of the new European Union Ecolabel Board Regulation. At EUROFER’s request, the Board decided not to restrict nickel in stainless steel. Nickel is on a list of substances in products which could have been excluded from ecolabelling although studies in the EU show that there are no risks related to using nickel in stainless steel. The economic repercussions for the lack of an ecolabel for nickel in stainless could have been severe, since the EU intends to align ecolabelling and public procurement. In the EU, total public procurement is about 15% of the EU’s gross domestic product.
