In 2006, the EU adopted a new chemical legislation known as REACH “Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and restriction of Chemicals”. This Regulation was adopted after a 6 years’ long process and came into force on 1 June 2007.

Thousands of chemicals substances are manufactured and imported by industries in Europe every year. In order to create common rules for the management of these substances, the REACH legislation introduces a new system for managing chemicals from production or importation to the final uses.
 
REACH applies to all chemicals, not only to the chemicals used in industrial processes but also to those used in our day to day life.
 
REACH is based on the principle that the industry itself is fully responsible to prove that the chemicals it manufactures and puts on the market in the EU do not affect adversely human health or the environment (this is the so called “reverse burden of proof”).
 
One of the key goals of the REACH regulation is to have a better understanding of the intrinsic hazardous properties of the substances as well as the assessment of the potential risks associated to the manufacture and use.

The main steps of the REACH process

1. Registration of all chemical substances: between now and 2018, every chemical substance that is produced or imported at over 1 tonne per year in the EU will have to be registered in a database managed by ECHA. The Pre-registration phase took place between June and December 2008.
2. The evaluation of the registration dossier: this phase includes first the verification of the compliance of the dossier and its content to all requirements and then the evaluation of the substances on the basis of the information provided.
3. For substances classified as more dangerous, REACH introduces an authorization procedure at EU level. This authorization will be granted for a limited period fixed on a case-by-case basis. It may be revised or suspended at any time or renewed by an ECHA decision..
4. Last but not least, REACH foresees a restriction process to regulate within the EU territory the manufacture, placing on the market or specific uses of certain substances which present a risk considered as unacceptable to human health or the environment.

1 An EU Regulation is a regulatory instrument that comes into force in the Member States, the day it is published in the Official Journal of the EU. Unlike a EU Directive, it has to be translated into each national regulatory instruments.