The new EU chemicals legislation - does it affect you?

REACH, the new EU law on chemicals and their safe use, deals with Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and restriction of CHemicals. This new legislation came into effect on June 1.

REACH replaces numerous EU laws related to chemicals, and is complimentary to other environmental and safety legislation, but will not replace sector specific legislation, such as cosmetics or detergents.

Does REACH affect you?

Do you know what REACH means for your products and your company? You should find out what your duties are under REACH, particularly if:

• you manufacture or import chemical substances or mixtures of chemical substances (preparations);

• you produce or import articles (for eg. construction materials, electronic components, toys or vehicles) which contain substances, included in a list of 'substances of very high concern' or which are released during their use;

• you process chemicals or formulate preparations for end use (for eg. cleaning products, paints or motor oils) or you use these formulated products professionally. In this case you are a 'downstream user'.

Are all chemicals, products affected?

Yes, but there are extensive exemptions from certain parts of the legislation, for example, chemicals in food and medicine are covered by other EU laws. Natural substances are also exempted from registration under REACH if they are not dangerous and have not been chemically modified.

Will REACH ban chemicals?

Restrictions on the marketing and use of chemicals will remain in place and be transferred to REACH.

REACH introduces a new authorisation procedure. However, this only applies to the most dangerous substances, which will be identified at a later stage.

First substances may be included on a candidate list of 'substances of very high concern' from autumn 2008 and made available on the website of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

What do I have to do?

If you manufacture or import one tonne or more of any chemical substance per year, you should pre-register the substance with ECHA by not later than December, 2008. Failure to meet this deadline means that you cannot continue producing or importing the substance until you have submitted a full registration dossier.

However, if you have pre-registered, you can benefit from staggered registration deadlines, depending on substance and tonnage (2010, 2013 or 2018).

If your company uses chemicals, you must apply, as a 'downstream user', for the safety measures to be communicated to you by your supplier via a Safety Data Sheet or carry out yourself a chemical safety assessment. Make sure your supplier knows about your uses!

If you import any formulated products or articles, be aware of your potential registration obligations!

How can I prepare?

Identify within your company who will be responsible for REACH compliance.

Create an inventory of all substances or substances in preparations/articles that you import/distribute/handle.

Check if the substances in your inventory are exempted from one or all aspects of REACH.

Identify for each substance the roles you perform under the REACH:

• Manufacturer/importer: you manufacture or import a substance on its own or in preparation of less than one tonne per year;

• Producer/importer or supplier of articles: you manufacture/import articles or place them on the market;

• Distributor (including retailers): you store and place on the market a substance, on its own or in preparation;

• Downstream user: you use a substance, either on its own or in preparation, in the course of industrial or professional activities (for example, formulation, dilution, repackaging, spraying, painting);

• Carry out the first preparatory actions (for example, establish a dialogue through the supply chain, compile information on uses and use conditions) according to your role;

• Identify and plan for future responsibilities, keeping in mind the different timelines linked to the three tonnage levels (one, 100, and 1,000 tonnes)

More information?

The Malta Standards Authority has been identified as the competent body for the REACH directive. New staff have joined the authority. These are undergoing training to support local enquiries on the new directive.

A REACH helpdesk will be set up shortly to provide advice about responsibilities and roles. More information can be obtained by consulting the ECHA Website http://echa.europa.eu.

Ing. Francis E. Farrugia is the Malta Standards Authority chairman and Maltese representative on the management board of the European Chemical Agency in Helsinki