REACH - European Union's new chemical regulations
The European Union (EU) has provided a six-month window ending 1 December to pre-register chemical substances under new regulations introduced recently. This may affect the ability of Australian companies to do business with the 27 member states of the EU, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
The European Union’s (EU) new chemical legislation, REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) introduces an obligation on European manufacturers and importers to pre-register most chemical substances with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) between 1 June and 1 December 2008 in order to benefit from extended registration deadlines. Failure to pre-register a chemical substance in time means the importer cannot benefit from the extended deadlines and will need to register the substance before being able to import it again into the EU market.
Further information on pre-registration under REACH and possible implications for Australian companies can be found in the July 2008 edition of the Chemical Gazette (pdf), published by the National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS).