Introduction

REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) is the new European regulation on chemical substances and their application, which came into force on 1st June 2007. This regulation rules all basic aspects of producing and trading chemical products. Imports from non-EU countries are also affected by this regulation. The REACH regulation applies both to particular chemical products and to preparations and articles respectively which contain these chemical substances regardless if these substances are harmful or not. Imported articles are only concerned by REACH if they contain or release substances of very high concern.

The consequences of REACH may be summarised as follows:

• REACH supersedes in large part existing EU regulations, e.g. the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS).
• Requires safer handling of chemicals
• Improves the protection of human health and the environment from chemicals risks.
• The responsibility for the safe use of chemical substances will be placed from the authorities on the chemical industry
• Improved flow of information along the supply chain.
• Replacement of substances of very high concern by substances which are less harmful
• The cornerstone of REACH is the registration.
• Basically, all chemicals must be registered.

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