Europe
Among many
industrial sectors
it is generating
new tension
not only among
chemicals
producers such
as coatings
producers and
their raw material
suppliers but
also among
downstream
coatings and
other chemical
users who are
also covered
by the REACH
regulations.
REACH Generating New Tensions
by Sean Milmo
European Correspondent
milmocw@rodmanmedia.com
REACH, the European Union’s legisla- tion on the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals, has come to
a stage in its lengthy implementation where it is
causing almost as much controversy as when it
was introduced nine years ago.
Among many industrial sectors it is
generating new tensions not only among
chemicals producers such as coatings producers and their raw material suppliers but
also among downstream coatings and other
chemicals users who are also covered by the
REACH regulations.
As a result the main objectives of REACH –
the dissemination of safety information on the
safety of chemicals down supply chains and the
phasing-out of the most hazardous chemicals –
are in danger of being compromised.
First, many thousands of SMEs, many of
them involved in the production, distribution and use of coatings, will over the next
two years be grappling with the complexi-ties of drawing up safety profiles of numerous low-volume chemicals. By mid-2018 the
last tranche – in the 1-100 ton range – of the
around 30,000 chemicals covered by REACH
will have to be registered.
Many of these small companies lack the
know-how and experience of dealing with the
mass of data necessary for creating registration
dossiers. Because of the financial and human
resources needed to put together safety profiles
