The second legal principle is that anybody selling an article in the EU needs to declare to their customer if the article contains any substances of very high concern, at a concentration greater than 0.1% by weight, and if so declare how to use the article safely. The expectation is that ECHA will issue the first candidate list of substances of very high concern early in 2009. In order to prepare for this, a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and AeroSpace and Defence Industries Assocication of Europe (ASD) Standard has been issued which compiles all known substances that have been publicly declared as meeting relevant hazard criteria (carcinogens, mutagens etc). It should be stressed that this list is very extensive and it is not expected REACH will totally regulate in the foreseeable future. However, how REACH prioritises their choice of the most hazardous substances is still to be determined. This list is therefore highly useful in determining potential risk.

Download the REACH interpretation guidelines at www.asd-europe.org