Feb. 20 – Compliance With Foreign Environmental Health and Safety Regulations

Steven M. Siros of Law.com has an interesting article titled
Compliance With Foreign Environmental Health and Safety Regulations on issues of interest to Nexreg clients, such as EU Directives and REACH:

The REACH regulation is similar to the Toxic Substances Control Act in the United States, and will apply to chemical manufacturers in the EU beginning June 1, 2007. REACH is designed to streamline the existing legislative framework governing the production and importation of chemical substances in the EU. REACH is intended to create a single system to regulate “new” and “existing” chemical substances, and is expected to spur the phase-out of more dangerous chemicals in favor of safer substitutes.

REACH will require manufacturers and importers of chemical substances in the EU to submit registrations for every chemical that is manufactured or imported in a quantity greater than one metric ton per year. The information to be included in the registration depends on the volume of chemical produced. For chemical substances produced in amounts between one and 10 tons, a technical dossier containing information on the properties, uses and classification of the chemical is required. Chemical substances produced in excess of 10 tons will require a chemical safety report that documents the hazards and classification of a particular substance, as well as an assessment of the risks associated with the particular chemical.

If you are unsure on how REACH, or other EU issues may impact your company, feel free to contact a Nexreg representative at:

Nexreg Canada: (519)488-5126 (London, ON)
Nexreg UK: +44 020 7993 5893 (London, UK)
Nexreg USA: (206)418-6663 (Seattle, WA)
E-mail: info@nexreg.com