MEPs lay down their negotiating mandate.

On 14 July, the European Commission formulated its plan to ban the use of dental amalgam in the EU from 2025 through its proposed regulation to revise the EU Mercury Regulation. The European Parliament is not deviating from this requirement, and officially adopted its position on the planned EU mercury ban on 17 January. MEPs adopted the report by rapporteur Marlene Mortler (EPP, DE) by a large majority: 550 votes in favour, 14 against and 64 abstentions.

The question of timing

Political differences over the timing of the ban on the use, manufacture and export of dental amalgam also persisted in the plenary vote. The conservative EPP attempted to push through a ban on dental amalgam from 31.12.2026 with two amendments in the plenary meeting. However, the parliamentary group did not achieve a majority for this requirement. It was also unable to push through a subsequent ban in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). MEPs are therefore in favour of a ban on dental amalgam from 1.1.2025 onwards. There is not much time left. In the Council, the dossier will be dealt with by the Council's environment working group. A compromise text was presented there on 18 January.

DSV calls for smooth implementation by 2030

The German Social Insurance (DSV) had positioned itself with an opinion on the revision of the EU Mercury Regulation. In principle, DSV welcomes the aim of improving environmental and health protection. DSV believes that the timetable should be reconsidered, and it should not take place until 2030 in order to ensure a smooth implementation of the ban on dental amalgam. Finally, the ban has contractual and supply policy implications in some Member States. In Germany, it is causing a fundamental health policy discussion about co-payment-free fillers in healthcare. They are part of the statutory health insurances’ catalogue of benefits, which needs to be further maintained.

Background

Dental amalgam - a filling material made from mercury alloys - is used in dental treatments and constitutes one of the last remaining forms of mercury usage in the EU. In Germany, around 47 million dental fillings were billed to the statutory health insurance funds in 2021. Of these, 1.4 million were amalgam fillings - a share of about 3.2 per cent. The use of dental amalgam is strongly declining throughout the EU, as well as in Germany. This is mainly due to the implementation of an international treaty - the Minamata Convention on Mercury. The Minamata Convention entered into force on 16 August 2017 and has so far been ratified by the EU and 143 countries, including all EU Member States. It has been implemented through the Mercury Regulation (EU) 2017/852 since 1 January 2018. Since then, dental amalgam has been banned in the EU for deciduous teeth, children under 15 years of age and pregnant and breastfeeding patients.