REACH - The new European chemicals regulation REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use. It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007 and its provisions will be phased in over 11 years. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. The REACH Regulation gives greater responsibility to industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers will be required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. Pre-registration of chemicals for manufacturers in or importers into the European Union (EU) started in June 2008 and must be completed by 1 December 2008 if volumes exceed 1 tonne per year. Pre-registration for substances already on the market will through pre-registration enjoy extended deadlines for submission of a full registration dossier to ECHA. Companies with production outside the EU cannot pre-register, but this has to be done through their importers or by appointing a so called "Only Representative" to handle the registration process. REACH has been developed in a climate of transparency and consultation. The European Commission (EC) has held extensive dialogue with stakeholders before and after the proposal was presented. Stakeholders sent over 6000 responses during the REACH internet consultation and contributed to the REACH Impact Assessment both before and after the launch of the EC’s REACH proposal in 2003. More information on REACH and its registration procedures can be found on the below websites. European Chemicals Agency (ECHA):
http://echa.europa.eu/home_en.asp EC’s Directorate-General for Environment:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm EC's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/chemicals/index_en.htm Additional guidance documents:
http://reach.jrc.it/guidance_en.htm Frequently asked questions:
http://echa.europa.eu/reach/faq_en.asp The EC Delegation has made available an information leaflet (ID - EN) and a guidance document (ID – EN). |
