REACH
What is REACH ?
REACH is a new European
Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006).
It deals with the Registration, Evaluation,
Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances.
The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.
The aim of REACH is to improve the protection
of human health and the environment through the better and
earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical
substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness
of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced. The benefits
of the REACH system will come gradually, as more and more
substances are phased into REACH.
The REACH Regulation gives greater responsibility
to industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide
safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers
will be required to gather information on the properties of
their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling,
and to register the information in a central database run
by the European Chemicals
Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.
The Agency will act as the central point in the REACH system:
it will manage the databases necessary to operate the system,
co-ordinate the in-depth evaluation of suspicious chemicals
and run a public database in which consumers and professionals
can find hazard information.
The Regulation also calls for the progressive
substitution of the most dangerous chemicals when suitable
alternatives have been identified. For more information read:
REACH in Brief.
REACH has been developed in a climate of
transparency and consultation. The Commission has held extensive
dialogue with
stakeholders before and after the proposal was presented.
Stakeholders sent over 6000 responses during the REACH
internet consultation and contributed to the REACH Impact
Assessment both before and after the launch of the Commission
REACH proposal in 2003. This helped the Commission to improve
the design and cost-effectiveness of the system and subsequently
the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union
to amend the proposal under the co-decision procedure.
REACH provisions will be phased-in over 11
years. Companies can find explanations of REACH in the guidance
documents and can address themselves to a number of helpdesks.
The Commission will carry out a number of
reviews of REACH Annexes within
18 months after entry into force (Annexes I, IV, V, XI, XIII).
Legislative texts of REACH
Regulation
(EC) No 1907/2006 is the central act of the new European
chemicals policy. It is often referred to as the "REACH
Regulation".
Directive
2006/121/EC contains technical adaptations of Directive
67/548/EEC that are necessary in the light of the new
REACH Regulation (Directive 67/548 concerns the classification,
packaging and labelling of dangerous substances and applies
in parallel with REACH).
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