REACH policy registration

As mentioned earlier, EU environmental compliance costs have historically been less than those in the U.S., but this would change abruptly if the EU adopts the proposed REACH policy - Registration,... 

The latter deadline is set nearly 20 years after the ministerial call for a new chemicals policy in the EU. Above 10 t, a Chemical Safety Report with data on a relatively large set of parameters, including data on intrinsic properties, exposure scenarios and risk management measures, is to be included in the registration (Article 14, Annex 1). For substances in quantities of 1-10 t, a technical dossier with more basic data (Article 10) is stated to be sufficient. Concerning so-called non-phase-in substances , i.e. basically those not being produced or marketed before REACH, the registration provisions entered into force on 1 June, 2008 (Article 141). 

In what is being called the most far-reaching overhaul of European Union environmental policy ever, the European Commission released a draft policy proposal on May 7 that, if enacted, would require virtually all manufacturers of chemicals to provide risk assessments and other information regarding products they sell or ship into the EU. Chemicals would also have to be registered with the EC and many downstream users of products that contain chemical entities would have to file paperwork as well. The Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals, or REACH, proposal would apply to approximately 30,000 new and existing chemicals, and test data would have to be developed on some 5000 specific chemical entities, many of which have been commonly used for decades. EUROPEAN COMMISSION... 

REACH. In 2003 the EU Commission proposed a new chemicals policy -REACH (Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals). The biocides used in AF products are still registered through the BPD, but the other paint constituents as with all other chemical constituents produced or imported > 1 ton/year on the European market will need to be partly or fully risk assessed under REACH. The legislation is expected to enter into force in 2007 (EU, 2003b). 

For example, once implemented, the European Commission s new chemicals policy REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) -endorsed in 2003 - would require manufacturers and importers of over one ton per year of any chemical substance to gather information on the properties, hazards, and use of that substance, and submit the data to the European Chemicals Agency. The Agency would then determine if the chemical substance needed to be further regulated, restricted, or banned from use. It is estimated that about 30,000 existing chemicals produced in or imported into Europe would be subject to REACH. Key objectives of the European Commission s initiative on the reformulation of chemicals policy are to raise human and environmental safety levels as well as to simplify and standardize the current legislation. 

The ideas behind the adoption of a new EU chemicals strategy was laid out in a 2001 EC Communication on a Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy (COM (2001) 88). This document took stock of the system that existed at the time and called for a new strategy based on a system for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals - REACH. The Communication set out seven objectives that needed to be balanced within the overall framework of sustainable development ... 

In February 2001, the European Commission published a White Paper entitled Strategy for a Future Chemicals Policy. The White Paper presented a new regulatory system, called REACH, for the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals . 

Revisions are being made to chemical control measures by describing the key facts and objectives of future chemicals policy in EU legislation through the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) regulation, which will be effective in 2007. REACH is expected to have major implications for European chemical producers and downstream users, since it is anticipated that around 30,000 chemicals will need to be screened for their health and environmental impact [8, 33, 34, 35]. 

Abstract This chapter introduces the European Union (EU) and discusses some of its directives and regulations. Today the EU has some of the most progressive environmental policies in the world that extend to all areas of environmental protection. Some of these areas are air pollution control, water protection, waste management, and the control of chemicals. This chapter includes information about the End of Life Vehicles Directive (ELV), the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS), and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE). The EU regulation called Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is described too. 

Table 12.25 briefly summarises the basic criteria that must be met by contaminants to be classified as POPs. Table 12.26 lists the original POPs included in the Convention, along with other high-risk pollutants, which were included in 2009 in the light of the (then) latest information. Also linked with efforts to restrict the movement of persistent substances in the environment is the implementation of the new EU policy REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals), which represents a new chemical control system to ensure that, by 2020 at the latest, only compounds with known properties are used in a manner that protects the environment and human health. 

These data, among many others, are important within REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemicals), the new chemical policy of the European commission, which entered into force in 2007 [128]. An important issue within REACH is how to predict the environmental effects from metal alloys. The general approach so far has been to treat alloys as a mixture of the pure metals that constitute the alloys. Because of the passive behavior of many metals or alloys, but also because of other factors, this turns out to be an erroneous assumption. As an example, the release rates of copper and zinc from a brass (Cu20%Zn) surface exposed to rain water during 2 years of exposure in... 

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