Jul. 17 – EU: REACH Reaction

Another in a series of ‘How Does REACH impact your business’ articles. Today’s from The Engineer:

Who will be affected by the rules?

1) Companies that make their own chemicals or supply them to others if they manufacture one tonne or more of any chemical a year.

2) Businesses importing one tonne or more of chemicals into Europe a year — including those in mixtures such as paints and cleaning agents and products such as cars and batteries.

3) Those using substances to keep their machinery operating and premises clean; formulators of paints, glues, detergents, plastics or rubbers; users of oils, lubricants and antifoams; car repair shops and cleaners and manufacturers of electronic components, computers and toys…

To pre-register, a company will need to meet certain criteria. Generally, chemicals needs to be on the ‘existing substances’ list of the European inventory of existing chemical substances (EINECS), which means it must also have been placed on the European market before 1981. Specific guidance on this can be found on the REACH website.

Click on the above link for more information.