News in brief

European Commission officials have codified in a single piece of legislation the many existing EU rules on good laboratory practice and the verification of tests on chemical substances. They have done the same for EU regulations on the inspection and verification of good laboratory practice. A Commission memorandum said the EU rules were currently too complex.

FMC BioPolymer, of Philadelphia in the US, is raising its prices for alginate products worldwide with effect from mid November. Pharmaceutical and food grades will increase by up to 6%, with even higher rises likely for selected industrial grades. The company attributes the increase to its continuing capital investments in manufacturing facilities, as well as escalating costs.

A uniform and streamlined system on the monitoring of illicit drug precursors for trade between EU Member States has been proposed by the European Commission. Brussels wants rules on licensing, customer declarations, labelling and monitoring procedures written as an EU Regulation, which national governments must implement to the letter. It would replace the existing 1992 Directive, allowing Member States leeway to interpret its rules, which sits alongside a 1990 Regulation on checking the trade in precursors between EU and third countries. Said Brussels: 'This results in an uneven application of the two instruments because Regulation updates on new precursors come into force immediately, while the Directive's have taken 42 months, harming efficiency'.