Important phase of pre-registering concluded
To date manufacturers and importers of chemicals have made extensive use of the opportunities provided by the new European chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals). The responsible European Chemicals Agency ECHA in Helsinki (Finland) received more than 2 million pre-registrations between 1 January and 1 December of this year.
Pursuant to REACH, as of 1 June 2008, manufacturers and importers manufacturing or importing more than one tonne of a chemical annually have to register this chemical with ECHA, supplying addition information on its hazard potential. However, there are transition periods for chemicals which were introduced to the market before 1981 (phase-in substances) which allow for longer deadlines for the actual registration. The precondition for this is the so-called pre-registration according to a simplified procedure. This was only possible up to the 1 December 2008.
Chemicals which have to be registered and which were neither pre-registered nor registered by the end of the pre-registration period must neither be manufactured nor imported until the respective registration has been submitted to ECHA. Any existing residual quantities must not be put into circulation without prior registration. Violations shall be punished as a regulatory offence, in cases of established intent they shall be punished as a criminal offence. The monitoring of compliance with the REACH regulation lies with the competent Länder authorities.
The high number of 2 million pre-registrations goes far beyond the originally expected number of 150,000. One of the reasons for this might be that some companies have taken the precaution of pre-registering the complete European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS), comprising more than 100,000 substance entries, without actually manufacturing or importing all of them. These figures, nevertheless, highlight the extent to which the use of chemicals is essential for our economies and how necessary it was to install REACH.