REACH is a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of Chemicals. It came into force on the 1st of June 2007 and replaces a number of European Directives and Regulations with a single system.
The legislation has many requirements of the chemicals industry, such as:
Registering chemicals, including information on their production (or import) volumes
Gathering toxicity data on those registered chemicals
Gathering exposure data or estimating exposure scenarios, of those registered chemicals
Performing risk assessments on each chemical, based on the toxicity data and the exposure data
Submitting the risk assessment to the EU, along with any suggested restrictions or control measures, for assessment
Communicating those control measures to downstream users of the chemicals
Aims
REACH has several aims:
- To provide a high level of protection of human health and the environment from the use of chemicals.
- To make the people who place chemicals on the market (manufacturers[1] and importers[2] responsible for understanding and managing the risks associated with their use.)
- To allow the free movement of substances[3] on the EU market.
- To enhance innovation in and the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry.
- To promote the use of alternative methods for the assessment of the hazardous properties of substances e.g. quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR)
Information in the supply chain
The passage of information up and down the supply chain is a key feature of REACH. Users should be able to understand what manufacturers and importers know about the dangers involved in using chemicals and how to control risks. However, in order for suppliers to be able to assess these risks they need information from the users about how they are used. REACH provides a framework in which information can be passed both up and down supply chains.
REACH adopts and builds on the previous system for passing information - the Safety Data Sheet[2]. This should accompany materials down through the supply chain, providing the information users need to ensure chemicals are safely managed. In time these safety data sheets will include information on safe handling and use.
The Registration Process
No data, no market
A major part of REACH is the requirement for manufacturers or importers of substances to register them with a central European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)[1]. A registration package will be supported by a standard set of data on that substance. The amount of data required is proportionate to the amount of substance manufactured or supplied.
If you do not register your substances, then the data on them will not be available and as a result, you will no longer be able to manufacture or supply them legally, i.e. no data, no market!
Pre-registration
It is estimated that there are around 30,000 substances on the European Market in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year. Registering all of these at once would be a huge task for both industry and regulators. To overcome this, the registration of those substances already being manufactured or supplied is to take place in three phases. These phases are spread over 11 years:
Pre-registration of substances was completed and the first stage on 31 December 2008.
All chemicals used in Allied’s wet wipes have been registered in this first phase.
Registration, the second phase involves manufacturers (or importers) knowing how their customers are using the chemicals so they can be sure to calculate the exposure to those chemicals correctly.
It will be some time before the first chemicals have their full toxicity and exposure packages evaluated and move onto the subsequent stage of communicating the results to their customers.
It is important for purchasers of formulated products, such as Distributors, to ensure that their suppliers are making adequate progress in conforming with REACH, since many chemicals are expected to be withdrawn from the market for economic reasons, it is important to question key suppliers.
For further information, please refer to the European Chemicals Agency website:
