Today was perhaps the most important date in this year’s calendar for the many thousands of companies supplying chemicals in the EU. Not only was it the day after the first REACH registration deadline, but it also saw changes to safety data sheets under REACH and a host of new duties under the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (“CLP”) Regulation. Under the REACHregulation, companies must submit registration dossiers covering each use of the chemicals they sell in the EU. This month’s deadline was for high tonnage and hazardous chemicals and saw at least 23 thousand registration dossiers submitted covering three thousand plus substances. With this significant milestone came a huge amount of work and those that have passed this first hurdle deserve to be congratulated.
Director of REACHReady, Jo Lloyd, said “Our helpdesk has certainly been kept busy in the run up to the deadline and I am pleased to say that the indications are that REACHReady subscribers who knew in good time that they had to register this year have managed to get a submission dossier in to ECHA in time. REACHReady is proud to have helped so many companies across the world in meeting their obligations in time”.
Many people have asked us why the numbers fall some way short of the 4700 substances that were expected to be registered in 2010 and it is unlikely that we will ever know the complete answer to this question. REACHReady however can make some observations as to why the numbers don’t add up:
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Several of the missing substances have been swept up under other EC numbers as a result of the sameness discussions. These include many sugars, petroleum and coal distillates, natural extracts as well as many residual substances listed as slags and slops.
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Many of the substances on the list have since been judged as exempt by the SIEFs such as nicotine, natural gases and some natural extracts.
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One thousand CMRs that meet the criteria for 2010 registration (as listed in Annex VI to the CLP regulation) still appear in ECHA’s 2010 list even though many of these are no longer on the market. Likewise many will be out of scope of registration (either manufactured or imported in quantities less than the 1 tpa or used in an application outside of the scope of REACH). A comparison of ECHA’s 2010 and Annex VI to CLP reveals that some 400 plus of the known CMRs were not registered.
“From today REACHReady has redeployed its expertise into helping companies deal with the fall out of registration – updating Safety Data Sheets, communicating the presence of SVHCs as well as helping companies cope with the effects of substance withdrawals”. Lloyd also went on to say “From the new year we will also have the 2013 deadline firmly in our sight and look forward to helping our subscribers get their 2013 SIEFs moving as there is no time to waste”.
Contact:
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Notes to editors
- REACHReady has a large proportion of SMEs within its membership and a large proportion of companies who were joint registrants.
- REACHReady is a subsidiary business of the Chemical Industries Association, set up to help companies deal with the REACH regulation. www.cia.org.uk
- REACHReady has over 7000 subscribers to its service. There are two levels of subscription:
- The Silver Service is free, and everyone who signs up will have access to a password protected part of the website containing regularly updated information, receive alerts on upcoming legislative deadlines and information and updates on services available.
- The Gold Service, in addition to the Silver Service features, includes access to REACHScope, REACHReckoner, REACHMatchmaker and a helpdesk that is available from 9am -5pm (UK time) Monday to Friday. CIA members can sign up to this service as part of their current subscription fee. Non-members can access the service for just £345 UK VAT per year. The helpdesk covers both REACH and CLP (the classification and labelling for supply regulation)
- More information is available on www.reachready.co.uk and REACHReady can be contacted on enquiries@reachready.co.uk or telephone +44(0)20 7901 1444
Contact Name: Fiona Ferguson