EU proposal for amalgam phase-out from 1st January 2025 progresses through Parliament

  Posted by: Dental Design      17th January 2024

The European Commission’s proposal for the phase-out of the use of dental amalgam across the EU from 1st January 2025 has completed its First Reading in the EU Parliament, with MEPs voting in favour of the phase-out.

Ahead of the vote, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) had tabled a total of 18 amendments to the Commission’s original proposal. The amendments specifically relating to dental amalgam included:

• Some additions to the background/context for the phase out, with additional references to mercury-free alternatives
• A reference to emissions from crematoria (though no proposed measures to deal with these emissions)
• The exception to the ban on use of amalgam for dental practitioners meeting “the specific medical needs of the patient” has been amended to refer to the “duly justified specific medical needs of the patient”
• A proposal for a further Commission report (to be delivered by June 2026) on the feasibility of withdrawing exemptions for the use of amalgam by 2030.

Only two amendments were rejected: one that intended to introduce a derogation for the use of dental amalgam in treatment until 31st December 2026 “where dental amalgam is a relevant material for dental care and is one of the relevant publicly reimbursed methods of dental fillings” and another that intended to insert a derogation such that “the manufacture and export of dental amalgam shall be permitted for the specific medical needs of the patient … until 31 December 2026”. 

The amended legislative proposal has now been referred back to the ENVI committee for interinstitutional negotiation.