REACH chemicals legislation enters into force this summer

The European Union´s new REACH Regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2007.
REACH is short for the "Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction
of Chemicals" for which the legislation creates a regulatory framework. The aim
of the legislation is to ensure the highest quality of human health and
environmental protection throughout the EU, as well as to enhance the
competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry by promoting higher safety and
research activities.

The new legislation transfers key tasks from official agencies to manufacturers
and importers and includes obligations for all parts of the industry´s
distribution chain. The REACH system will be administered by the EU´s new
Chemicals Agency to be based in Helsinki, Finland. The agency will maintain a
chemicals database that will include all substances, with only a few
exceptions, of which at least one tonne per manufacturer or importer are
manufactured in or imported to the EU.

According to director Tuula Sokka, who is responsible for quality and
environmental issues, Algol Chemicals has prepared for the new regulation by
training staff and arranging briefings about the subject for its customers.
Algol Chemicals is a direct member of the FECC, the European Association of
Chemical Distributors, and it has pledged to fulfil the requirements of the new
legislation as outlined by the FECC. In practice the adoption of the new system
will occur over a period of 11 years during which the decrees of the REACH
Regulation are phased in.

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