The costs of REACH

Abstract

Early next year, the European Union (EU) plans to implement a major piece of legislation—about 1,200 pages in its current form—to replace 40 different laws regulating the use of chemicals across the member states. When the European Commission (EC) presented its first draft in May 2003 (EC, 2003), it immediately drew huge attention because of its far‐reaching consequences, not only economic but also on human health and the environment. If passed, the REACH legislation will require the chemical industry to provide information on the potential negative effects—most of which are still unknown—of a vast number of chemicals used throughout the EU. Not surprisingly, this has met with criticism from all quarters. The costs of obtaining this information, and the subsequent effects on the European chemical industry, are hotly disputed. > [REACH] immediately drew huge attention because of its far‐reaching consequences, not only economic but also on human health and the environment REACH dictates new rules on the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of CHemicals. It requires manufacturers and downstream users of chemicals to register their substances—if they are sold in the EU as isolated compounds or in preparations—either with a national regulatory authority or a central European Chemical Agency, which the EC plans to establish next year in Helsinki, Finland. Companies are required to submit a registration dossier for each product, listing possible adverse effects on human health or the environment. REACH also requires additional authorization for substances that the EC considers of “very high concern”: chemicals that are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to the reproductive system; endocrine disruptors; or persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic substances. Producers or downstream users must perform a risk assessment to ascertain whether their product creates risks to human health or the environment, which social benefits it provides, and whether safer alternatives are available. If, on the basis …