The Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC 1907/2006) will come into force on 1 June 2007. Notably, as a Regulation and not a Directive, REACH will not require national transposing legislation to be implemented and will have direct effect from June. REACH will affect manufacturers, importers and downstream users of chemicals.
REACH will transfer the burden of proof for demonstrating the safe use of chemicals from EU Member States to industry. Manufacturers and importers of chemicals in volumes of over 1 tonne per year will be required to register each chemical in a central database. Failure to register will mean a chemical cannot be manufactured or imported into the EU market.
Not all of the REACH provisions will be immediately effective. REACH will be phased in over 10 years, with the key deadlines being:
- June 2008: European Chemicals Agency to become operational.
- June to November 2008: Pre-registration of phase-in substances.
- December 2010: Registration deadline for substances in quantities of over 1000 tonnes and certain carcinogens, mutagens and chemicals toxic to reproduction.
- June 2013: Registration deadline for substances in quantities of over 100 tonnes.
- June 2018: Registration deadline for substances in quantities of over 1 tonne.
REACH is intended to replace the existing EU regime of over 40 pieces of chemicals legislation, in order to provide a single system for all chemical substances. As well as registration, it will also provide for the evaluation of selected chemicals which pose a risk to the environment or human health, authorisation of chemicals of very high concern, and restrictions on the use of certain chemicals where appropriate.
Guidance and IT tools to support registrants and users of chemicals are expected to be available in mid 2007.
In the coming months we will be producing further Law-Now’s relating to the content and potential commercial considerations of the REACH Regulation.
