Cefic: Industry has invested heavily to make REACH work. Now REACH needs to work for the European industry

Brussels, 1 June 2018 – Now that the last deadline to register existing chemical substances with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has passed, the EU chemical industry is looking to the EU and member states to make sure REACH becomes a competitive advantage for the European industry.  The first step is to focus resources on enforcement.

Cefic Director General Marco Mensink said: ¨The European chemical industry has invested enormous financial and human resources complying with REACH by collecting data about substances and creating registration dossiers with ECHA. Now it is time to turn REACH from a regulatory compliance issue to a competitive advantage for the European chemical industry.  The first step is to make sure that starting this weekend no unregistered substances cross the EU border, including substances in articles. Next, making sure that compliance with REACH gives an easier access to global markets.”

The European chemical industry is convinced that an absolute majority of the substances used on the market has been successfully registered by the deadline and that the chemical industry will continue supplying its markets and customers with no disruptions.

Following the registration deadline, the focus of both industry and regulators in this new phase will shift to other REACH processes such as Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction.  These processes need to be efficient, transparent and lead to informed and science based decisions, minimising the risks and optimising the benefits of chemicals.

Cefic members will also continue working with the European Commission and ECHA to implement the recommendations from the recently published REACH review. Key topics for the industry are the simplification of the authorisation procedure and  smoother alignment between REACH and other pieces of EU legislation.