To which territories does REACH apply?

                                                                                         

REACH is a European Community Regulation that directly applies in all 27 Member States of the European Union. It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances. REACH is a type of new law which entered into force on June 1st of 2007. It is to note that REACH is of European Economic Area (EEA) relevance, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will apply REACH after it has been incorporated into the agreement of EEA.

However, substances imported from Switzerland (a non EU country belonging to European Free Trade Association (EFTA) but not to EEA) will be treated under REACH in the same way as substances imported from any other non-EU country, such as Chine. What this means is, that imports from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway will be treated as intra-Community trade for the one purpose of REACH.

An importer of a chemical substance from any of the EEA countries will not be required to register the substance under REACH in the future and will simply be regarded as a distributer or downstream user. On the other hand, his supplier established in an EEA EFTA - state will have to register the chemical substance as a manufacturer under RECH and will be subject to the same obligations as all EU manufacturers. For example, a formulator purchasing his substances in UK or Iceland will be considered as a “Downstream User”, where a formulator purchasing his substances in Switzerland or China will be considered as an “Importer”.

The main purpose of REACH is to develop and improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of chemical substances. It also enhances the innovative capability and competitiveness for the EU chemical industry. REACH regulation is also there to give greater responsibility to the industry to manage the risk from chemical products and to provide safety data on the substances. Manufacturers and importers must gather the data on the properties of their chemical products, which will allow safe handling. In order for one to register certain chemical substance information, they will need to contact the central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. The Agency will act as the central point in the REACH system: it will manage the databases necessary to operate the system, co-ordinate the in-depth evaluation of suspicious chemicals and run a public database in which consumers and professionals can find hazard information.

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For further information on REACH compliance and MSDS please visit http://www.nexreg.com/

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