Chemical Regulation of Flame Retardants

Widely used brominated Flame Retardants (FRs) came under regulatory scrutiny since the 1990s because of widespread findings in the environment and problematic environmental and health properties of some of them (e.g., persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, carcinogenicity, endocrine effects). This has led to regulatory restrictions of a a number of substances from a global level under the UN Stockholm Convention down to national and regional regulations. To replace these “legacy” FRs, new products often based on non-halogenated phosphorus, nitrogen or inorganic chemistries were developed. This chapter not only describes the regulatory restrictions for FRs, but also governmental and nongovernmental policy instruments and initiatives that were developed to promote safer alternative FRs, for example, ecolabel schemes and the European Safe and Sustainable-by-Design concept.