One of the most important sectors in GTF’s day-to-day operations is that of biocides, that is, chemical products used for their disinfectant properties. Owing to their chemical composition, these are a highly complex category of products, which are currently governed by the European Biocidal Products Regulation.
Whilst it is true that the introduction of regulations at European level is usually beneficial to the sector, and helps to clarify the guidelines to be followed for the regulation of each type of product, in this case there is a structural problem within the industry: of the 4,000 companies operating in Spain in the chemical industry, more than 50% are micro-SMEs, and they have a very limited ability to adapt to the new European standards on their own. And this is all the more true in this context of change, which makes it difficult to meet the necessary European requirements and adds significant costs to the business.
For that reason, it has been set up Quimeltia, a new association of chemical companies in Spain, which will ensure the modernisation and adaptation of the sector to the new technologies, and will make it cheaper for these small businesses to carry out the changes necessary for their survival. On our blog, we would like to publicly congratulate the promoters of this initiative, and we hope they succeed in ensuring the survival of the chemical sector in Spain and its many SMEs.