What is REACH?

The European Commission's new EU regulatory system for chemicals: REACH, which stands for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals will come into effect in June 2007.  It is designed to regulate the manufacture, import, marketing and use of chemicals.

Under REACH, manufacturers, importers and downstream users are required to demonstrate that the manufacture/import/use of a substance does not adversely affect human health and that risks are adequately controlled.  Information on chemical properties and safe uses of chemicals will be communicated up and down the supply chain.

Registration:
Under REACH, each producer and importer of chemicals in volumes of 1 tonne or more per year and per producer/importer — around 30 000 substances — will have to register them with a new EU Chemicals Agency, submitting information on properties, uses and safe ways of handling them. They can use existing data and share data. The producers and importers will also have to pass the safety information on to ‘downstream users’ — manufacturers that use these chemicals in their production processes — so that they know how to use the substances without creating risks for their workers, the end consumers and the environment. The Agency will make non-confidential information available to the public.

Evaluation:
Through evaluation, public authorities will look in more detail at registration dossiers and at substances of concern. They can request more information if necessary. At this stage, they will also scrutinise all proposals for animal testing to limit it to the absolute minimum. REACH makes datasharing on animal test results compulsory and prescribes the use of alternative methods wherever possible.

Authorisation:
Use-specific authorisation will be required for chemicals that cause cancer, mutations or problems with reproduction, or that accumulate in our bodies and the environment. Authorisation will be granted only to companies that can show that the risks are adequately controlled or if social and economic benefits outweigh the risks where there are no suitable alternative substances or technologies. This will encourage substitution — the replacement of such dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives.

Restrictions:
The Commission will continue to be able to restrict the use of certain dangerous substances at EU level, but REACH will introduce clearer procedures and allow for decisions to be taken more quickly than is currently the case. The provisions for restrictions will act as a safety net.

Source: http://www.reachcentrum.org

REACH Timeline: