The REACH Regulation gives responsibility to industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances used in the plant. Manufacturers and importers of substances in the EU will be required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki.
POLOPLAST is a member of TEPPFA (The European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association) and ETHIC (European Thermoplastic Independent Compounders) and is working in several REACH working groups. POLOPLAST is well prepared to fulfil the requirements of REACH sufficiently and in time.
REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals. It is the EU Chemical legislation which came into force on 1 June 2007. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment by identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced.
A requirement is to collect, collate and submit data to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on the hazardous properties of all substances (except Polymers and non-isolated intermediates) manufactured or imported into the EU in quantities above 1 tonne per year. Certain substances of high concern, such as carcinogenic, mutagenic and reproductive toxic substances (CMRs) will have to be authorised.
Chemicals will be registered in three phases according to the tonnage of the substance:
More than 1000 tonnes a year, or substances of highest concern, must be registered in the first 3 years;
100-1000 tonnes a year must be registered in the first 6 years;
1-100 tonnes a year must be registered in the first 11 years.
Evaluation provides a means for the authorities to require registrants, and in very limited cases downstream users, to provide further information.
The relevant authorities perform substance evaluation when there is a reason to suspect that a substance presents a risk to human health or the environment (e.g. because of its structural similarity to another substance). Therefore, all registration dossiers submitted for a substance are examined together and any other available information is taken into account.
The REACH proposal sets up a system under which the use of substances with properties of very high concern and their placing on the market can be made subject to an authorisation requirement.
This authorisation requirement ensures that risks from the use of such substances are either adequately controlled or justified by socio-economic grounds, having taken into account the available information on alternative substances or processes.
The Regulation enables restrictions of use to be introduced across the European Community where this is shown to be necessary. Member States or the Commission may prepare such proposals.
Manufactures and/or importers of substances in the EU should develop risk reduction measures for all known uses of the chemical including downstream uses. Downstream users such as plastic pipe producers should provide detail of their uses to their suppliers. In cases where downstream users decide not to disclose this information, they need to have their own CSR.
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is managing the technical and administrative aspects of the REACH system at Community level. The Agency, located in Helsinki, is the central coordinating body and will be operational in 2008.
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