What is REACH?
REACH is a European Union regulation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals. It came into force on 1st June 2007 and replaces a number of European Directives and Regulations with a single system.
Aims
REACH has several aims:
- To provide a high level of protection of human health and the environment from the use of chemicals.
- To make the people who place chemicals on the market responsible for understanding and managing the risks associated with their use.
- To allow the free movement of substances on the EU market.
- To enhance innovation in and the competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry.
- To promote the use of alternative methods for the assessment of the hazardous properties of substances e.g. quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSAR).
No data, no market
A major part of REACH is the requirement for manufacturers or importers of substances to register them with a central European Chemicals Agency. If you do not register your substances, then the data on them will not be available and as a result, you will no longer be able to manufacture or supply them legally, i.e. no data, no market!
