Exporters to the 27-Member States of the EU as well as manufacturers in the EU of  chemical substances, will have to conform to the new EU Legislation on Registration, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).   REACH came into force as of 01 June 2007.  It covers all chemical substances including those contained in articles/products as follows:

• metals, natural substances that are chemically modified,

• or  mixtures, preparations of chemical substances as those found in cleaning products, formulated process chemicals, paints, motor oils

• or substance or preparations in containers (e.g. printer cartridges).

• articles which contain substances which are intentionally released during their use (e.g. fragrance in scented candles)

• or articles that contain “substances of  very high concern”, (mainly those that are carcinogen, mutagens or toxic to reproduction or persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic)

Mandatory registration of chemical substances took effect since 01 June 2008.   The  EU, however, extended its registration deadlines from 2010 to 2018 for chemical substances that are pre-registered between 01 June 2008 and 01 December 2008.  Chemicals that are not pre-registered by 01 December 2008 will lose its access to the EU market after said date until these are fully registered with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

Pre-registration is important to enable companies to be grouped into the relevant Substance Information Exchange Forum (SIEF) whose objective is to avoid duplication on the testing of substances and agree on classification and labeling.  Companies in a SIEF are obliged to share animal testing studies to keep the tests to an absolute minimum and will have to agree on how to share testing  costs.

For detailed information on how to comply with the REACH, interested parties may log on to http://ec.europa.eu/echa  

Disclaimer: The Bureau of Export Trade Promotion (BETP) publishes data and Information culled from reports, periodically received from various sources, however, the BETP can not be held accountable for contents of external websites featured in articles posted on its Tradeline website.