Product Stewardship

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006).   It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007 and its provisions are phased in over 11 years.

 

REACH creates a general obligation for EU manufacturers and importers of substances to submit a registration to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki for each substance manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 tonne or above per year.   The regulation exempts certain substances that are adequately regulated under other legislation, like medicinal products, or that generaly present such low risks as not to require registration, like water, oxygen, certain noble gases, and cellulose pulp.

 

Non-EU producers or exporters do not have direct obligations under the REACH regulation; however, in order to ensure a market for their products, they should pre-register their products by 30 November 2008 either through their EU clients or through "only representative' legal entitities of their own, specifically created to fulfil the obligations of importers.

 

JECSI provides strategic assistance with REACH pre-registration, registration, and authorisation of substances under Annex XIV.