How to comply with Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals (REACH)

Until its final enactment on June 1, 2007, REACH (EC 1907/2006) was a matter not only of serious legislative debate, but also on the receiving end of bitter condemnation. And though it may still be grounds for all sorts of feelings, good and bad, the fact is that its regulations will force businesses around the world to make some excruciating decisions about tens of thousands of substances by June 2008, because that is the date of the first regulatory deadline set to affect existing chemical products. REACH, whose provisions will be phased-in over 11 years, now replaces 40 existing pieces of legislation in the European Union (EU). Companies can find explanations of REACH in the guidance documents, on the EU’s REACH web site (see Figure 12-1) and a number of help desks are available for consultation. The European Commission is slated to conduct a series of reviews of REACH Annexes until December 2008 (Annexes I, IV, V, XI, XIII).

What REACH says

The TSCA (which hasn’t been amended since its enactment over 30 years ago) is to REACH what a speck of dust is to the sun. The difference between them — to say nothing of both the immediate and long-term consequences of the latter — is enormous. Remember our discussion on the difference between substances and materials? Well, this is where those differences come into play even as they are obliterated. Forget materials. REACH forces companies to comply on the level of substances — an enormous task compared to complying with the TSCA.

The current registration process, in which you must register every product you make with the European Chemicals Agency (ECA), covers nearly 30,000 substances. Of these, 2,500 are likely to be hazardous to human health or the environment and will have to undergo continued testing to show that they can be used safely. Over the next dozen years, however, as many as 100,000 existing substances will be subject to REACH evaluation, authorization, and, in many cases, restriction. Ultimately, the ECA estimates that a total of 150,000 to 200,000 substances will be registered, though some authorities put that number much higher, going so far as to suggest that there will be half a million applications for approval.