Another stage of implementation of one of Europe’s biggest regulatory impacts on business has just passed. The second registration phase of REACH closed on 31 May 2013. This year, registration was required for phase-in substances manufactured and imported between 100 and 1000 tonnes per year. Yet again the second highest number of registrations have come from the UK

Commenting on the complex task faced by businesses, Dr Jo (Joanne) Lloyd, Director of Chemicals Policy at the UK based chemicals trade body, the Chemical Industries Association, said: “Our member companies have worked hard to submit good quality information in time for the second registration deadline. It has not been easy, especially when the same people are also still dealing with the fall-out from the first stage (2010), while at the same time looking ahead to ultimate authorisation”.

Looking ahead to 2018, Jo added: “there is already concern that the many more SME’s who will need to register in 2018 (3rd stage) will struggle to cope. We will be doing all we can to help those needing support and will be encouraging everyone to  start work early, otherwise many of the twenty thousand or so substances that we expect to see registered in 2018 will not be registered in time leading to a significant supply chain disruption for both the consumer and businesses”.

We are working with our companies, their customers and the EU and UK governments to help make this law work as effectively as we can for all concerned, so that the intended improvement to human health and the environment do actually happen”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

For an interview with Jo please contact Lena Nunkoo on 020 7963 6791 or 07951 388 919

By the end of 31 May, companies that manufacture or import substances in quantities between 100 and 1000 tonnes per year per legal entity had to register their substances by submitting a dossier of safety information to the European Chemicals Agency, ECHA. The process involved many companies coming together to share information in a “substance information exchange forum” for each substance needing registration, choosing a company  to act as a lead registrant, gathering data and filling any HSE data gaps, assessing the risks from any likely exposure down the supply chain, submitting the main body of the data to ECHA and allowing everyone to link to this dossier to submit their own registration.