REACH: A further layer

What is REACH?

REACH is the European set of rules for bringing chemical substances and preparations and objects incorporating these substances onto the market. The abbreviation REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemical substances. The regulation came into force in all EU Member States on 1 June 2007. The aim of REACH is to improve the availability of information on safe use of a substance in the total chain.

As a result of REACH, responsibility for mapping out substances shifts from the government to the producer or importer bringing the substance onto the market in the EU. This regulation does not affect just the chemicals sector but the entire downstream chain, right down to producers of (consumer) products that make use of chemical substances and semi-finished products in those products. REACH also entails a duty of registration for substances in items that are released in normal use, such as ink from a pen, scent in candles, bleach from a pair of jeans or ink from a printer cartridge.

In 2009, the EU will draw up lists of 'substances of high concern', so that a private person buying a computer or television, for example, can ask the manufacturer whether the product contains any of these substances. The supplier and manufacturer are legally obliged to answer these questions within a period of 45 days. In addition, starting in 2011, there is a duty of notification for 'substances of very high concern', which are not released during the normal use of the items in which they are incorporated. Examples are lead in paint, plasticisers in plastics and fire-retardants in electronic equipment.

Periods of pre-registration and registration

All substances that are produced or imported in quantities of over 1 ton per annum must be registered. There is a phased registration duty, for which the entity bringing the substance onto the market has to pre-register between 1 June 2008 and 1 December 2008. If the entity has not pre-registered, then from 1 December 2008 it is not permitted to bring the substances or articles onto the market until such time as registration has been effected.

If pre-registration has been effected, the phased registration duty commences in 2010 and ends in 2018. Depending on the volume that is produced and/or imported, each substance needs to be registered for each legal entity in 2010, 2013 or 2018. The registration authority is the newly created European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki (ECHA). Failure to abide by the REACH regulation results in a prohibition against trading in the relevant substance or article.

Implications for the producer, the importer and the customer

Businesses can come within the ambit of REACH directly or indirectly. In the direct sense, importers and producers of chemical substances will have to register them. The indirect impact means that the business of buyers of such substances is affected where suppliers fail to register them, where the substances are not authorised or where suppliers change their product assortment because unregistered substances may no longer be used. In all cases, barriers to trade are the principal risk.

Read more about how businesses are preparing for REACH in the PwC international survey.