ECHA Announces New Help Desk for REACH, CLP Information
October 29, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) formed a help desk network, Help Net, to aid compliance with two European Union (EU) regulations - REACH - Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals and CLP - Classification, Labelling and Packaging of Chemical Substances and Mixtures.
The objectives of the new network are to provide consistent, harmonized answers and the best possible advice to industry seeking to fulfill their obligations under the REACH and CLP regulations.
Help Net, announced on Oct. 27, expanded the existing REACH Helpdesk Correspondents' Network (REHCORN) to include the national CLP help desks.
ECHA will provides the secretariat for Help Net. A web-based IT application, Help Net Exchange, will be used by the network to enable discussions and ensure that consistent answers are given across Europe. The European Commission is an associated member of the network.
A Help Net Steering Group - consisting of representatives of the national REACH and CLP help desks of the 27 EU member states, Norway, Iceland and ECHA - will regularly meet to discuss issues of common interest, future activities and the functioning of the network. The new steering group replaces REHCORN, which had been the steering body of the network of REACH help desks since April 2007.
The Help Net Steering Group can invite representatives from candidate countries or stakeholder organizations who host an EU-wide REACH or CLP help desk as observers. Currently, six industry associations, along with Croatia and Turkey, are observers of the Help Net Steering Group meetings.
Source: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).