European Chemicals Agency Begins REACH Enforcement
May 1, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has started REACH-EN-FORCE-1, a joint enforcement project for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), across the European Union (EU).
National inspectors are checking preregistrations, registrations and the provisions for safety data sheets.
The Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement reviewed the start of the project and agreed on further steps.
REACH-EN-FORCE enforces the core principle of REACH: no data, no market. Inspectors in participating countries will focus on the phase-in substances (existing substances) and check through inspections as to whether companies have submitted a preregistration or a registration and, where necessary, whether a safety data sheet has been supplied.
The project will give a first impression of the level of compliance with REACH by manufacturers and importers (including only representatives) in the EU and European Economic Area.
At the same time, the capacity of the enforcement authorities to enforce REACH will be enhanced.
A designated national coordinator will oversee the implementation of the project in each participating country and provide training for local inspectors. For that purpose, the national coordinators were trained by the forum working group at ECHA's premises earlier in April.
The results of the project will be collected by the end of 2009, and the forum working group will analyze the results and produce a report in early 2010. The forum is also preparing a second coordinated project to be launched in 2010.
For more information, see the web site for the Forum of the European Chemicals Agency.
Source: European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).