On 1st of June 2007 the REACh regulation - an European Union chemical regulation -
came into force.
REACh stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and
Restriction of Chemicals. This EU regulation is applied in all member states.
REACh aims to harmonize the existing chemical laws and to simplify them.
The ECHA with seat in Helsinki takes care of
the organization and control of the harmonization of the process of REACh.
Within the area of application only chemical materials may be brought into the market, which
were registered before.
Supply of substances to the European market, which have not been pre-registered or registered is
illegal (known in REACh as "no data, no market").
Already during the pre-registration phase, we have clarified with our suppliers and
manufacturers the issue of registration for each of our materials.
For most of our offered materials it is confirmed that they are so-called phase in materials,
which are listed in EINECS. With these a compulsory registration is void. Nevertheless many of
these materials were pre-registered yet, in order not to exclude other registration-requiring
intended purposes.
In this context companies are obliged to exchange information in the supply chain by fulfilling
REACh regulations.
Downstream users will receive additional responsibilities and obligations. They must support
information about the exact use of registration-requiring materials to their upstream
manufacturers or importers. If reasonably, the upstream manufacturers can consider the use of
these data e.g. in the technical dossier. They may suggest recommend suitable risk reduction
measures in the hazard scenario. The application becomes then integrated into the identified
applications. The downstream user has the obligation to apply these risk reduction
measures.
If the manufacturer/importer does not identify or register the individual use or if the
downstream user wants to keep trade secrets regarding a special use, the downstream user may
provide his own material safety report. For registration-obliged materials the downstream user
can submit his own application data for admission of its use.
The most important instrument of the communication in the supply chain remains the safety
data sheet (SDS). The SDSs have to contain the registration number from 1st of December
2010. Where applicable, information on the restriction of uses, if necessary data regarding the
approval requirement and the identified uses have to be part of th SDS.
Short information of our products can be found in our
Commodity Overview.
The REACh regulation in combination with the GHS criteria (Globally H
armonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) and the CLP
regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and p
ackaging of substances and mixtures) has direct influence on our company. This means specially
the regulations regarding the description and labelling of the materials. Beside the normal SDS
there is an extended SDS (eSDS). The eSDS must contain additional information about safety in
accordance with regulation (EC) 1907/2006 (eSDS).
From the 01.12.2010 chemical materials under the REACh regulation can be sold only together with
a current eSDS.