Focus on REACH Regulation      

By Dave Buckland, Corporate Regulatory Affairs Manager of AkzoNobel  

REACH - the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals - came into effect in June 2007. It aims to safeguard human health and the environment, providing protection from exposure to chemicals. It will improve risk management, shifting responsibility to industry rather than the authorities, and increase knowledge about the properties and uses of substances. REACH replaces numerous existing EU regulations and covers chemical substances that are intended to be used both alone and in preparations. All substances produced in excess of one ton per year are affected by the new regulations with a few exceptions which are covered by other EU laws.

AkzoNobel's Experience on REACH

AkzoNobel has been working to meet its obligations under REACH for five years now.
As the sustainability leader in the chemical industry, AkzoNobel is well-placed to support its customers, letting customers recognize AkzoNobel as a trusted REACH partner and leader in its practice. The customers need to know that the substances AkzoNobel supplied will continue to be available and have been registered properly to comply with the new regulations.
    AkzoNobel has so far only registered a handful of substances, and is still waiting for the possibility of bulk registration (which is expected to start working later this summer). AkzoNobel expects a total cost for REACH of about 130 million euro over the coming eleven years. This includes the pre-registration and registration processes.
    The company is already member of some pre-consortia and has been working with some of its peers on REACH matters for some time now.
    AkzoNobel has made a point of establishing good communications networks/channels with its customers and suppliers to be able to help them and provide them with correct information at the right time. In the past it has been very difficult to obtain information on how chemicals are used downstream. The new regulations mean there is a strong incentive for information to be made available - which in turn allows AkzoNobel to improve its Product Stewardship programs.

REACH's impact  

REACH will transform the chemicals industry and downstream users, both in the way it operates and in the products it produces. The legislation could also have a big impact on where products are made. Companies from outside the EU that sell chemicals in EU will be subject to REACH. However, producers of finished goods manufactured outside of EU will not be restricted to the same choice of chemicals that European manufacturers will be. This could lead to further outsourcing of manufacturing to non-EU countries, particularly the Asia-Pacific region and the United States.
    With REACH, some substances will be phased out of production or become uneconomical because the cost of registering a substance is significant. Registration for a single substance produced at more than 1 000 tons per annum could cost up to 2 million euro.
    Under REACH, new environmentally-friendly substances will become commercially more attractive. The companies that develop these products will naturally establish competitive advantage. But the benefits do not stop there. REACH will strengthen companies by improving relationships with outside suppliers and promote cooperation between divisions within each company. At AkzoNobel, for example, every business unit has set up multifunctional teams, including R&D, legal, sales and purchasing to manage their REACH processes and ensure the regulation is correctly implemented in the most cost effective manner.
    The benefits of REACH will be far-reaching because it imposes an obligation to everyone in the chemicals industry to share data. This means a much higher degree of communication between users and competitors, moving the industry toward consensus on a common work plan. Dialog between international organizations, including trade associations and consortia will also be brought about.

Suggestions on preparing for
REACH on next stage

After pre-registration, the immediate task is to get together with other SIEF members and identify data gaps and if necessary place orders to have toxicological testing undertaken. Some of the mandatory tests under Annex VIII take a long time and if testing is not started early then results will not be available at the deadline for greater than 1 000 t/a registration.
    If you will have a lot of animal testing requirements under REACH it is a good idea to negotiate a long term contract with test houses since available slots are already becoming scarce.
    If substances and their uses are not registered, they will become illegal, and can no longer be produced or provided to customers. Therefore it is essential that a great deal of efforts goes into the planning stage to ensure that all deadlines can be met.