Practice Management

Are you ready for Europe's REACH directive?

By Dan Hull

Regulation (EC) No. 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 18 December, 2006.

The Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of CHemicals (REACH) is a remarkably comprehensive European Union chemical and environmental regulation. It will require all companies manufacturing or importing everyday chemicals into the European Union in quantities of "one tonne" or more per year to register these substances with a new European Chemicals Agency in Helsinki, Finland. Potential registrants (i.e. manufacturers and importers of chemical substances) must pre-register these substances by December 1, 2008, in order to benefit from postponed ?phase in? deadlines.

REACH is 849 pages long, took 7 years to pass, and has been described as the most complex legislation in the European Union?s history. You think that American-styled environmental laws, like the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), are tough and potentially draconian? The universe of businesses worldwide subject to the EU regulation is broader, and deeper. More on REACH here soon.

Full post as published by What About Clients? on October 02, 2008 (boomark / email).