REACH Accepted
19 December 2006 As of 2007, these 30,000 chemicals can begin the new registration process, which will be the world’s most vigorous. The establishment of the Chemicals Agency in Helsinki will begin in mid-2007. Once established, it will begin to test the 30,000 old substances with regard to their consequences for humans and the environment, according to an article from the F.A.Z. Institute. These include all substances that arrived on the European market before 1981 and that are manufactured or imported in quantities exceeding one metric ton annually. The companies have eleven years to supply the data for registration. The agency can approve hazardous substances, but can also prohibit them.
Chemicals companies and users of chemicals had resisted the Ordinance from the outset, primarily because of the massive registration costs it entails, particularly for non-active ingredients such as inerts and adjuvants. While the EU has promised consumers that the industry will pay these costs, there is little doubt that the cost will eventually fall to the end-user.
Environmental associations argued that REACH still has not gone far enough. They want to stipulate that a hazardous substance must always be replaced if substitute substances are available, regardless of cost. In order to reduce the burden on the industry, the compromise agreed upon provides for a reduction in the amount of data required for such substances, of which only up to 10 tons are manufactured annually. There is to be no compulsory substitution when it comes to approving the approximately 1,500 hazardous substances. However, the companies must draw up a substitution plan in which they explain how the substance can be replaced. The rule that will apply to imports is that only imported chemicals themselves are covered by REACH. Processed substances are excluded.
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