Global Dimensions of REACH and the Research

REACH seeks to address universal challenges on the lack of risk data and the poor quality of many safety data sheets (SDS). With its dominant role in the global chemicals market, the EU could be ideally situated for propagating change through international supply chains. Even the prospect of REACH has already catalysed change within the chemical industry. 

For example, the Franco-American company Rhodia notes that REACH has reinforced its efforts in developing product stewardship programmes and reviewing SDS [526]. Similarly, the Swedish Chemical and Plastic Industry Federation has responded to REACH by launching a major initiative to improve SDS information supplied by its companies [527]. From the other end of the risk communication chain, the Dutch-American company Rohm and Haas has responded with a scheme for collecting data on the chemical contents of its upstream raw materials [528]. 

REACH has also prompted countries outside the EU to review their own systems of regulation [529]. Recent proposals in the USA 

Fundamentally, REACH is spurring the international acceptance of new risk assessment procedures, such as the use of in-silico methodologies. From a risk management perspective, regulatory agreement at the EU level can also provide a strong political force for action at an international level. As the only internationally endorsed RRS guidance is based on the current EU document 

---