04/06/2007
Landmark new EU chemical legislation, commonly known as REACH, formally comes into force across the EU on June 1.

Replacing various pieces of European legislation with a single system, REACH – Registration, Evaluation and the Authorisation of Chemicals – will be rolled out over several years.

The law is designed to make firms prove the thousands of chemicals they use in products from cars to clothes are safe.

It will, importantly, include a number of chemicals that have not undergone any safety assessment before.

Chemicals manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities of more than 1000 tonnes a year and substances of highest concern, such as carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxic substances, need to be registered within the first three years and the rest will follow.

Final agreement on the deal, reached by parliament last December, came after years of wrangling between firms keen to avoid more red tape and environmentalists seeking to cut the use of hazardous pollutants.

• More details, see the HESA special report

Source: EUPolitix.com