Reach Registration: 'Panic is Starting to Set In'

A significant number of chemical companies are starting to panic as they could miss the December 1 deadline for registering their chemical substances under the Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (Reach) program, says Jo Lloyd, director/ReachReady. ReachReady is a Reach information service affiliated to the Chemical Industries Association (CIA; London).

“Panic is starting to set in. I would say it should have happened six months ago. From now on it’s going to be an interesting time politically,” Lloyd says.

Substances that are produced in volumes above 1,000 m.t./year or have hazardous properties must be registered with Reach by December 1 of this year. Companies that fail to submit a reach dossier for their substance will be forced to remove such substances from the market. Chemical firms are required under Reach to share safety data and undertake any necessary product testing to fill data gaps.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA; Helsinki), the body responsible for implementing Reach, estimates that industry will need to create about 9,000 substance information exchange forums (SIEFs) to facilitate data sharing. As of February 3 only 2,306 SIEFs had been created, however. In the past four months the number of active SIEFS that are sharing data and putting together Reach dossiers has increased by just 378.

The European Commission, along with industry associations across Europe, this week are putting questions to chemical companies in a bid to find out exactly how many chemical companies are in danger of failing to complete the registration of their products under Reach by the deadline, Lloyd says.

“Even large companies are likely to have some products that will miss the deadline,” Lloyd says. In many Reach data gathering consortia, companies are only just at the stage where they have made money available for the group so that it can pay for product testing. “The problem is that you need a good year to see some of these studies through,” Lloyd says. At least “this year, companies actually have a budget for Reach–last year they didn’t.”

ECHA has said repeatedly that it will not postpone the Reach registration deadline. “I don’t think the deadline will change but what companies are required to admit may change,” Lloyd says.

With regards to user data “we haven’t even got to that issue yet,” Lloyd says. Lloyd says her advice to companies signed up to a SIEF that is dormant is to take up the role of lead registrant.