In 2012, Danish Environment Minister Ida Auken announced the ban of DEHP, DBP, DIBP and BBP, pushing Denmark ahead of the European Union which has already started a process of phasing out phthalates.[38] However, it was postponed by two years and would take effect in 2015 and not in December 2013, which was the initial plan. The reason is that the four phthalates are far more common than expected and that producers cannot phase out phthalates as fast as the Ministry of Environment requested.[39]