The REACH legislation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) came into force in the EU in June 2007. Any company selling in the European Union (EU) will have to assess how they are affected. Over and above the legal obligations, which start in June 2008, this assessment must also consider the business risk.

There are two principle legal obligations and several secondary ones. The first principle is that anybody bringing a substance or preparation onto the EU market needs to take responsibility for its hazard. In this case, any company manufacturing or importing substances or preparations into the EU, at volumes greater than 1 tonne per year, will need to pre-register this with the governing body ECHA (European Chemical Agency). This pre-registration process runs from June to November 2008. All the companies pre-registering a given substance will then have to collaborate to establish the technical hazard of the substance. ECHA will then evaluate this proposal and determine any restriction or authorisation.

snload the EACH interprRetation guidelines at www.asd-europe.org