EU chemicals regulation REACH

In the new EU chemicals regulation (REACH), which entered into force on 1 June 2007, detailed guidance documents on different REACH elements, including data to be used in the hazard assessment of chemical substances, are currently in preparation (spring 2007). These documents will probably be available on the EU DG Environment REACH Web site (EU 2006) when published. 

The EU chemicals industry is one of the EU s most international, competitive and successful industries, accounting for around 30% of the total world chemicals production. At the same time, the EU imports almost as many chemicals as it exports, and a sizeable number of European production facilities belong to non-EU multinational companies. It is therefore no surprise that the new EU chemicals Regulation, REACH, has caught the attention of such a vast range of stakeholders both within and beyond the EU. 

The respondents were also asked to answer open questions about the challenges the new EU chemical regulation REACH sets for enterprises in the future. Some of the responses emphasized that issues relating to REACH shall be taken care of in a centralized manner, and part of the responses were clearly doubtfiil. Uncertainty about the REACH regulation was very common, especially in the responses of worker representatives. 

The aims of the proposed new regulations are to improve the protection of human health and the environment while maintaining the competitiveness and enhancing the innovative capability of the EU chemicals industry. REACH would furthermore give greater responsibility to industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. This information would be passed down the chain of production. 

This presentation discusses current EU chemical legislation and examines the shortcomings of some of the regulations in place with respect to dangerous chemicals. The Commission White Paper is discussed, and in particular, the REACH system which involves the registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals used in food-contact applications. The impact of the REACH system on food-contact plastic manufacturers is examined, with respect to suppliers of monomers and additives, plastic manufacturers, converters and packagers. 

The SubChem project was developed in the context of discovered deficits in regulating, assessing and dealing with chemicals in Germany and Europe. The project work coincided with review of the EU chemicals pohcy with the result that the initial scientific results of SubChem were also able to contribute to the political process surrounding the chemicals White Paper and the REACH ordinance. 

The REACH system was initiated to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risk that can be posed by chemicals, to enhance the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry (a key sector for European economy), to promote alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances, and to ensure the free circulation of substances on the international market of the European Union. The regulation was formally enforced on 1 June 2007. However, according to the REACH schedule, the registration procedures started from 1 June 2008 [1, 2]. 

The REACH Regulation creates a single system for both existing and new substances. All substances are covered by this Regulation, unless explicitly exempted from its scope. The strategy of REACH is to ensure a high level of chemicals safety and a competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry.65 The benefits of the REACH system will come over time, as more and more substances are phased in. The objectives that were balanced within the overall framework of this sustainable development were... 

REACH came about as a result of the growing awareness that the former legislative framework governing chemical substances in the EU, which consisted of a patchwork of many different directives and regulations that had developed over the years, contained several serious flaws that risked jeopardising human health and the environment and hampering the competitiveness of the EU chemical industry. 

The two most important aims of the REACH Regulation are to improve protection of human health and the environment from the risks of chemicals while enhancing the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry. 

An economic and legal frame is, on the other hand, applied in much of the news coverage related to the European Union, in particular to the Reach legislation. In contrast to the relative silence about the new chemical regulation in the Swedish press (cf. Table 4.3), the Polish journalists at the two largest national newspapers seem to pay quite a lot of attention to the implementation stage. The mass media take on the EU in this context is one of scepticism, and the views of the Polish companies affected dominate the news material and are at the centre of the journalists writing. In one article the reporter addressed the readers directly ... 

The relevance of REACH goes beyond the transformation of EU chemicals safety management. Internally, REACH S institutional design and procedural sequences may well become a model for EU risk regulation generally (Pesendorfer 2006). 

Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (2007) REACH - a new chemicals regulation for the EU and EEA countries. Available via http //www.sft.no/publikasjoner/2326/ta2326.pdf. 

In the following, the history of the precautionary principle within the EU and its member states will be briefly described, followed by a concise overview of EU chemicals policy and a more detailed description and analysis of the REACH regulation and its relation to the precautionary principle. 

EU (2007) Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, REACH. http //eur-lex.europa.eu... 

---