The New EU Chemicals Policy - REACH

This book also covers the connection between the new EU Chemicals Policy (REACH) and Chemical Leasing. Within REACH, cooperation, networking and communication based on documentation, evaluation and minimisation of hazards is indispensable. The new business model can serve as a basis for this intensified dialogue and cooperation. 

All these new service-oriented chemical business models require a close co-operation between the provider and the user of the chemical. Therefore, the potential of these business models has also to be seen in connection with the new EU Chemicals Policy (REACH), which will require a new relationship between provider and user and the conventional paradigm supplier here - customer there" will hardly be crowned with commercial success."... 

Commission s consultation on a new EU chemical policy (REACH), 1 July 2003 See the PRIO tool provided by KEMI at http //www.kemi.se/templates/... 

REACH is to consider the changes that the new EU chemicals policy... 

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). 

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 ... 

European Comission (2006) Q A on the New Chemicals Policy, REACH, MEMO/06/488. http //europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do reference=MEMO/06/488. 

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. 

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... 

Work in the [riw] program coincided with a far-reaching reform of European chemicals policy. This opened up extensive opportunities for not only an analytical, but also consultative (interventional) accompaniment of this extensive institutional innovation . For SubChem this was primarily a matter of developing some fundamental correlations and founded (quahtative) arguments regarding possible ecological, health and economic opportunities and risks arising from the EU Commission s proposals for a new chemicals policy. Contributions for operationalisation of the precautionary principle and the economic effects of the REACH process to be expected were particularly in demand. 

The term substance of very hi h concern, abbreviated SVHC, is associated with a new process that was introduced to the European chemicals policy through the implementation of REACH the authorization process. This procedure aims (1) to encourage the substitution of substances of very high concern with less harmful substances or alternative technologies and (2) assure the proper control of risks arising from SVHC s. A substance being subject to authorization must principally not be used or placed on the market for any use within the European Union. However, specific uses of an authorized substance may be excluded from this general prohibition if, for example, they are a priori exempted from authorization or if the manufacturer, importer, or downstream user successfully applied for their authorization. The authorization process is laid down in REACH Articles 55-66 and may be initiated by the ECHA on behalf of the European Commission or by EU member state competent authorities. Substances which are subject... 

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). 

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