Complying with the REACH guidelines is essentially important if your business is dealing in the production, usage, or import of chemicals. There are certain obligations under the EU’s REACH legislation and being non-compliant to the guidelines can call for very serious consequences. But do not worry for we have your back in this matter. Here are listed the ways with which your compliance will get easier.
What are REACH regulations?
The European Union in 2007 introduced the concept of REACH that aims to protect human health as well as the environmental forms from risky chemical exposures. REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals.
Stay relevant to the legislation by following these processes.
Registration
If you are a business that import or manufacture chemicals that are over 1 tonne a year, you will have to register the substance with EU Chemicals Agency. This also holds true if the chemical is a part of a mixture or substance. Entire and accurate details need to be filled up.
Evaluation
REACH was formed primarily to restrict the excessive use of harmful chemicals. So when you are registering your application, it will be evaluated for how high concerning the chemical is. A chemical will be identified as SVHC or a substance of very high concern when it will be carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic. They can also be termed harmful if they are persistent, bioaccumulative, or PBT and vPvB. After identification, the chemical is sent for authorisation.
Authorisation
There is an authorisation list that has the details of all the harmful and restricted chemicals. The ECHA assesses and updates it once every 1-1.5 years. This list is very restrictive and any business that wants to use or sell a chemical present here need to gain authorisation. Without permission, it cannot be used legally and need to settle with safer chemicals. However, if the chemical you intend to use does fall on this list, you do not have to worry, because you are already compliant.
Restriction
Even after the completion of almost the entire legislation process, if the authorities want to re-evaluate and label the chemical as harmful, they can. They can also stop the application from getting processed and you need to re-apply. You can also change the way of using the chemicals to become compliant and qualified.
Consulting with the Enviropass REACH SVHC team before applying will help you get better clarity on the process and faster clearance.
