Coatings World - May 2008

International Coatings Scene
EUROPE

BY SEAN MILMO

EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT

MILMOCW@RODPUB.COM

Readying for REACH
Coatings
companies
face hurdles
posed by
REACH.

The European coatings industry is beginning to take action to ensure that it does not face major problems with the collection of safety data for the European Union’s controversial REACH scheme which involves the registration of approximately 30,000 chemicals, a lot of which are used to make paints.

REACH starts its pre-registration process next month (June) when producers and importers of chemicals with an output of over one metric ton a year have to provide minimal details of the substances they plan to register. The registration procedure is being stretched over a period of 11 years.

Pre-registration is expected to raise some difficulties for chemical suppliers, particularly the small operators (SMEs) because of the problems of ensuring that chemicals are given the proper identity. This will ensure that companies with the same substances can share the cost of gathering safety data for the full registration.

But it is now becoming clear to coatings companies that the biggest challenge posed by REACH for their sector will be the collection of data on the uses of each individual chemical, which has to be provided for its registration.

A registration dossier has to contain not only information about toxicological and other potentially hazardous properties of the substance but also data on its uses. For chemicals

in coatings products that means not only details about their function within different formulations but also information on the way the coating is applied by downstream users.

With chemicals which are manufactured or imported in quantities of ten metric tons or more annually, chemicals safety assessments will have to be conducted on all identified uses. This will involve the drawing up of exposure scenarios giving details of conditions under which a substance is manufactured and then used during its life cycle in terms of the way people and the environment are exposed to it.

The exposure scenarios will not only be an important part of registration dossiers but they will also provide additional safety data and details on risk management in the Safety Data Sheets (SDS) on individual products. One of the main aims behind REACH is that more comprehensive safety information on products should be communicated down the supply chain.

The completion of exposure scenarios could be a formidable task for the coatings sector which is one of the biggest in the EU to be covered by the REACH legislation. This is on account of the numbers and range of chemicals in its formulations and the numbers and diversity of its downstream customers.