Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
The REACH Regulation- under the REACH Regulation(.PDF 1.78Mb)
, if you manufacture or import chemicals in quantities above one tonne per year, you must ensure that they are registered or pre-registered with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) - users must also comply with identified controls for existing substances that have been pre-registered
- the regulation will be phased in progressively over several years with the most hazardous, high volume substances being addressed first
- the phase in period does not apply to existing substances that were not pre-registered prior to the 1 December 2008 deadline
- for new substances the regulation applies in full from 1 June 2008
The Competent Authority for U.K. is the Health and Safety Executive and a dedicated website and helpline has been established to provide guidance to businesses.
In Northern Ireland REACH is jointly enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (N.I.), District Councils and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).
NIEA is responsible for enforcing environmental, use related provisions and for providing support on environmental issues to the other enforcing bodies.
The legal remit for REACH enforcement across the UK is provided by the REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 No. 2852 that came into force on 1 December 2008.
Further information and guidance for businesses is available from the Netregs website.
In 2005, a scoping exercise (clearly defines the scope of the research) was undertaken to establish current and future enforcement requirements under legislation related to the control of chemicals.
A key driver for this was the EU Chemicals Regulations, (REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals).
The scoping exercise identified a significant knowledge gap in understanding the importance of chemicals in Northern Ireland’s business environment.
An external contract entitled ‘Analysis of business sectors producing, marketing or using chemicals in Northern Ireland ’ was assigned to PricewaterhouseCoopers in May 2006. The project was completed in December 2006, and the project outputs are accessible through the links below:
Technical Summary: An Analysis of Business Sectors Producing, Marketing or Using Chemicals in Northern Ireland (Technical Summary Report December 2006)(.PDF 61Kb)