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What is REACH?
REACH is an acronym for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals.This is a European law regulating the use and production of chemical substances and due to come into force in June 2007.
At the moment, 31% of the world’s chemicals are produced in EU companies. About 100,000 substances introduced in the EU before 1981 were not tested for health effects. Only about 3,000 substances (the ones introduced after 1981) were tested.
For 99% of EU chemicals there is not sufficient information to confirm they are safe.
Thus, the main goal of REACH is to test all chemical substances present in the EU through import or manufacturing to be checked for health and safety.
When does a chemical substance have to be registered? According to REACH it has to be registered if:
- The chemical substance is produced in or imported into the EU in quantities of 1 tonne or more per year
- The chemical substance - regardless of its volume - is considered to be a threat to health or the environment. Such substances would be carcinogens or reproductive toxins (like pesticides or E numbers) as well as substances which bio-accumulate in living beings.
REACH was approved by the European Parliament in December 2006 and compels all companies or organisations to register the chemicals they use. If a manufacturer or an importer uses a very hazardous chemical substance, this substance needs to be replaced by either an approved less hazardous one or if none exists research needs to be carried out in order to find one. In this way, the ECHA wants to encourage companies to invest more into R&D and to eventually bring more products onto the market and thus promote innovation.
As even existing chemicals have to be checked for safety, the implementation of REACH will take 11 years.