BLC News
REACH obligations to be met by 1st June 2011
15th February, 2011
The REACH directive entered into force on 1 June 2007. Almost four years later signals a critical phase of the legislation for importers of articles (products for sale) in the EU.
Notification: Notification of a substance will be required, where it is present in an article at above 0.1% by weight, it is supplied at more than 1 tonne per year and is a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) that is included on the "Candidate List" and is not already registered for the use. Notification is relatively straightforward, but it can lead to a requirement for registration.
Communication: Where a Substance of Very High Concern (SVHC) that is included on the "Candidate List" is present in an article at above 0.1% by weight, the company supplying the article must provide sufficient information, available to them, to their commercial customers, or upon request to consumers, within 45 days of receipt of the request. This information shall ensure safe use of the article and as a minimum shall include the name of the substance. This information can be provided in a variety of ways to the customer, including in sales literature, on a website or in separate communications.
The Candidate List and future developments
The principle of the Candidate List is that these are substances of very high concern (SVHC) that need to be evaluated for the strictest category of scrutiny - Authorisation. If a substance is designated to be authorised, the justification for continued use is likely to be so onerous that a requirement for authorisation is virtually equivalent to a prohibition in all circumstances except where there is no alternative; in such a case, an individual supplier would need to demonstrate that use of the substance can be justified for very specific uses.
There are currently 46 chemicals listed on the SVHC list that are subject to the requirements of notification.
On a longer term basis, companies need to be aware that the concept of SVHCs is very wide indeed - the substances that can potentially be added to the candidate list are:
- any substance that meets the criteria for classification as a carcinogen, mutagen, or toxic for reproduction category 1 or 2
- any substance classified as persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, or very persistent and very bioaccumulative
- other substances, such as endocrine disruptors, where there are equivalent levels of concern
Companies therefore need to be assessing their own range of products, building up their understanding of the content in their products of the wider range of SVHCs and deciding on their future strategies.
For example, some companies are already asking for information from suppliers about the wider range of substances in the products supplied to them. The legal obligations of REACH to communicate apply only to substances on the current candidate list, above the threshold of 0.1% by weight. Taking a longer term view of business strategy, companies should consider pre-empting changes in the legislation by taking a wider view of the substances that they are buying, using or supplying, and deciding whether they wish to ask suppliers for information on additional substances and/or to communicate additional information to their customers. Companies buying articles from overseas suppliers are advised not to rely solely on suppliers' declarations, but to carry out some screening of likely risks and some testing as a basis of due diligence.
Restrictions on the use of certain substances
For completeness, it should be noted that Annex XVII of the Reach Regulation effectively replicates the former Directive on the 'Marketing and Use of Dangerous Substances' - in that it continues to restrict the use of certain substances in specified uses - for example certain azo dyes and nonylphenol ethoxylates.
For further information please contact Tori Moreno Cruse or call +44 (0) 1604 679999.
