REACH is an acronym for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of CHemicals. It is a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union which was passed at the end of December 2006 and was made law on 1 June, 2007. In particular it aims to increase knowledge of chemical substances, to assure the latest information for all protagonists, to increase the protection of health and environment and to assure highest degree of risk management linked to manufature and use.
REACH leans on the principle: ‘No information, no market’.
Essentially concerned are existing chemical substances marketed without being submitted to prior notification, that they were imported or manufactured and put on the market in greater quantity than 1 ton per year in the European Union.
The main characteristics of REACH are as follows: transfer of responsibility of the manufacturer who must register the substances and assure risk management; the setting up of a European Chemicals Agency (ECHA); obligation for the users downstream to divulge their uses of the chemical substances; limitation of animal tests; strong incentive to share information by the setting up of consortiums between manufacturers.
For further information
•
see
on the Website of INERIS
(French National Institut for Industrial Environment and Risks)
