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In a document made public at a conference held last March in Brussels, the German government has expressed once more its strong disapproval of the fact that the authorisation to market dangerous chemicals was restricted to a five-year period.
The German government believes that by imposing a five-year time limit the competitiveness of the German chemical industry would be endangered.
" An authorisation of only five years is disproportionately short with regard to the planning periods often required by industry, and raises doubts about the practicability of the whole authorisation scheme", declared Uwe Lahl, the Federal Ministry for the Environment.
According to the initial REACH project, the marketing of dangerous substances was subject to time limitations. This restriction was aimed at encouraging manufacturers and downstream users to substitute these substances with less harmful products.
The German viewpoint is in line with the opinion expressed by the European Council in December 2005.
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