REACH - Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals

The EU's Council of Ministers and European Parliament adopted REACH on 18th December 2006 and published in the Official Journal L396 of 30.12.2006, though a corrigendum version was issued in OJ L136 of 29.5.2007 (no changes of text of requirements, but layout changes drastically reduce printed size).
Please note: it has since been subject to a number of subsequent amendments and adaptations to technical progress. See below.

The full title is "Regulation (EC) No 1907]/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), establishing a European Chemicals Agency, amending Directive 1999/45/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94, as well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 91/155/EEC, 93/67/EEC, 93/105/EC and 2000/21/EC".

REACH came into effect on 1 June 2007 when certain requirements applied. This included the Safety Data Sheet provisions, to which there were some changes of detail.

Registration provisions of REACH first applied from 1 June 2008, replacing the current Notification of New Substances (NONS) provisions of the DSD and the requirements of the Existing Substances Regulation (EC) No 793/93.

Restriction provisions of REACH, see Annex XVII, came into force from 1 June 2009, replacing the requirements of national legislation implementing the 76/769/EEC Restrictions on Marketing and Use Directive (RMUD). The restrictions were updated via amending Regulation (EC) No 552/2009, with effect from 27 June 2009, though some of the later RMUD decisions were not included and will be included in a subsequent amendment to Annex XVII.

REACH provisions, unlike Directives, have direct legal impact within the EC without the need for Member State (MS) implementing legislation; though MS will need to make some legislation to define the Competent Authority responsibility and the penalties for non-compliance, since enforcement is up to the MS.

The new European CHemicals Agency (ECHA), set up by REACH, has been established in Helsinki, Finland. ECHA started operations in June 2008.

For those new to REACH the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/reach/index.htm provides a useful starting place with a number of useful guidance leaflets, and links to the more detailed guidance available.

Those seeking either a broader appreciation, or even specific further information on REACH may well find what they are looking for at http://echa.europa.eu/reach_en.asp.

Also adopted on 18th December 2006 was Directive 2006/121/EC which made consequential amendments to the 67/548/EEC Dangerous Substances Directive (DSD). This was also published in the OJ L396 of 30.12.2006, with a corrigendum version in the OL L 136 of 29 May 2007.

The REACH main legal text (the articles) has been amended by: Council Regulation No 1354/2007 which adapted Articles 3(20)(b) and (c) of the REACH legal text by reason of accession of Bulgaria and Romania.

In December 2008 Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures, amending and repealing Directives 67/548/EEC and 1999/45/EC, amending Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 was adopted. This made some immediate and some delayed amendments to REACH, including changes to the SDS requirements set out in Article 31.

Amendments have been made by the Commission to the following Annexes:

Annex II: Commission Regulation No 453/2010 of 20 May 2010 amending REACH as regards Annex II, the SDS detail provisions. This makes very significant changes to the SDS provisions by introducing a new version of Annex II that muts essentially be complied with from 1.12.2010 and a further new version that will be applicable from 1.6.2015 (though this basically only removes a requirement to continue to show classifications per the DSD/DPD system)
Annex IV: Commission Regulation No 987/2008 of 8 October 2008 as regards Annexes IV and V
Annex V: Commission Regulation No 987/2008 of 8 October 2008 as regards Annexes IV and V
Annex VI: Commission Regulation No 453/2010 of 20 May 2010 as regards Annex VI
Annex XI: Commission Regulation No 134/2009 of 16 February 2009 as regards Annex XI
Annex XVII: Commission Regulation No 552/2009 of 22 June 2009 as regards Annex XVII (repalces original Annex XVII with new version including changes)
Annex XVII: Commission Regulation No 276/2010 of 31 March 2010 as regards Annex XVII (dichloromethane, lamp oils and grill lighter fluids and organostannic compounds.)

Further information and helpful materials on REACH is available to CHCS Members in the Members Only section of this website.

Page Revised, 26 June 2010, supersedes 6th July 2009

In case anyone is in any doubt, REACH is an acronym for Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of CHemicals.

ECHA Report on Expert Workshop on the Extended SDS

Chairman of the Training Sub-Group, Stuart Longworth, attended an Expert Workshop held at ECHA Headquarters in Helsinki earlier this year on behalf of CHCS. The report on that meeting has now been published and is available for download.

REACH Registration numbers

Under REACH a Reference Number is issued to a REACH registrant who has made a pre-registration, full registration or in some other cases. It is likely that transmitted (pre-)registration numbers may get transposition errors, and this could lead to problems. CHCS member Simon Robinson of Safeware have made available an on line checker - see: http://reach.safeware.co.uk/ - so that you can verify numbers are correctly recorded (though it doesn’t guarantee anything other than the validity of the number).

REACH Pre-Registration

The main period during which pre-registration of substances previously manufactured or imported into the EU (thus securing a phase in period before full registration will be required) was possible has now closed. In some cases late pre-registration can still be made; see http://echa.europa.eu/reachit/pre-registration-it_en.asp

Pre-registration substance list

ECHA has published a preliminary list of pre-registered substances. This is available at http://apps.echa.europa.eu/ preregistered/pre-registered-sub.aspx

Chemical Hazard Communication after REACH

On March 19th Ross Fielding, a member of the CHCS Council, presented a talk, on behalf of the CHCS, on "Chemical Hazard Communication after REACH". A copy of the presentation can be found by clicking on this link: Chemical Hazard Communication after REACH

REACH Table of Contents

The REACH Regulation is extensive and does not include a useful Table of Contents. CHCS is grateful to Desmond Waight for making available a detailed Table of Contents. This is available from our Members Only REACH page.