Endocrine disruptors are substances that interfere with the functioning of hormones, with potentially harmful effects on health. Defining scientific criteria for their identification is highly complex and has important repercussions. There are gaps in scientific understanding as well as diverging regulatory views. The European Commission's delay in adopting scientific criteria has provoked strong reactions. In a judgment delivered on 16 December 2015, the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union found that the Commission had breached EU law by failing to act on endocrine disruptors. The Commission has now proposed the long-awaited criteria, and has presented the draft legal acts required for their implementation. However, stakeholders on all sides of the debate are critical of the proposal. Members of the European Parliament are divided on the issue. The proposed delegated act and implementing act will now have to be approved, according to procedures subject to scrutiny in Parliament and Council. This briefing is an update of an earlier edition, of 27 April 2016.
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