ECHA Starts REACH 2013 Campaign to Urge Chemical Companies to Act Now!

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has launched a campaign to encourage chemical companies to "Act Now!" to meet their planned registration obligations for the second round of REACH.  The next registration deadline - for substances manufactured or imported at tonnages at or above 100 tonnes per year - is May 31 2013. 

ECHA's goal is to get companies thinking now about how they will fulfill the data requirements and interact with other members of SIEFs, including any data gathering and compensation to existing data holders.  Preparing for and submitting registrations earlier rather than all at the last minute is good for both ECHA and the registering companies.

To do this, ECHA has started a program called REACH 2013 - Act Now!

The web page provides "key information to support you in your preparations for the 2013 registration."  It includes "links to all the steps of the registration process: from the formation of the Substance Information Exchange Fora (SIEFs) to data sharing, dossier preparation and online submission."


According to the site, potential registrants need to be getting organized to do:

1. Substance identification, hazard information, data-sharing
1. Substance identification and sameness of substance: Confirm with the other pre-registrants that you have the same substance;
2. Hazard information: Collect all data available on the intrinsic properties of the substance to be registered;
3. Data sharing: As part of a joint registration, gather and share existing information, consider alternatives to testing and answer any information request from within your SIEF;
2. Chemical safety assessment: Carry out a chemical safety assessment in order to produce a chemical safety report based on the hazard information collected and knowledge on the uses.

 More information can be found on the ECHA web site.