The Commission is considering the issue of indoor air quality in a comprehensive manner including research, standardisation, labelling and consumer information.

The Commission is aware of the potential health risks associated to the indoor use of consumer products such as cleaning agents and air fresheners. The EU funded EPHECT[1] project aimed to assess the related exposure and health risk.

General obligations on the safety of products are set out in the General Product Service Safety Directive[2]. Moreover, scent products in the form of substances or mixtures have to meet the rules regarding classification, labelling and packaging that apply to all chemical products as laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008[3] and the REACH Regulation[4]. Where such substances and mixtures are classified under this legislation as respiratory sensitisers, special warnings need to be included in the label. Regulation 1272/2008 also includes labelling requirements for mixtures not classified as sensitising but containing at least one substance classified as sensitising.

The Commission has no view on the Honourable Member's proposal to ban scent marketing in certain settings. This would appear to be a matter for national authorities taking account of available risk assessments. If such a measure were to be conceived as a restriction as defined by REACH, the restrictions process may be considered. A restriction on 1,4-dichlorobenzene in air fresheners has been recently adopted by Commission. The Commission does not have information on alternative and preventive measures.

Finally, the organisation and delivery of health services is a matter of Member State responsibility.

• [1] https://sites.vito.be/sites/ephect/Pages/home.aspx
• [2] OJ L 11, 15.1.2002, p. 4.
• [3] OJ L 353, 31.12.2008, p. 1.
• [4] OJ L 136, 29.5.2007, p. 3.

OJ C 426, 27/11/2014