REACHING OUT: REACH pre-registration phase begins
Following its official launch on June 1, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has started to accept pre-registrations of chemicals under the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) legislation. The 200 staff working at the agency have a mammoth task ahead of them, given that some 200,000 pre-registrations are expected.
REACH is designed to cut health risks associated with everyday chemicals by requiring companies to register safety information with the ECHA, and if necessary to substitute dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives.
The legislation, which covers some 30,000 chemicals, no longer differentiates between existing and new chemicals, obliging all chemicals on the market to undergo rigorous testing. Before REACH, there was a general lack of knowledge regarding 99 percent of the chemicals - around 100,000 substances - that were placed on the EU market before 1981. Prior to that date, no stringent health and safety tests were needed to market chemicals in the EU.
Between now and Dec. 1, 2008, companies that manufacture or import more than one tonne of chemical substances per year should pre-register these chemicals online via the REACH-IT portal. The agency is expected to handle a staggering 200,000 pre-registrations overall. It is important for companies to pre-register as the failure to do so will mean that the chemical substance will be prohibited from use or manufacture in the EU until the chemical substance completes a formal registration process.
The pre-registration phase is meant to help companies identify and get in touch with other companies that are planning to register the same substance, giving them to sufficient time to set up a Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF)
Following the pre-registration phase, companies that have pre-registered will have until Dec. 1, 2010 for the final registration and market authorization of all substances produced or imported in quantities equal to or greater than 1,000 tonnes a year. A phased registration process is provided for those who have pre-registered chemical substances used or imported in volumes less than 1,000 tonnes per year. Companies that import or produce the smallest amounts of chemicals regulated under REACH, provided they have been pre-registered (approximately one tonne or more a year) will have until June 2018 to register these substances.
