REACH

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. The new law entered into force on 1 June 2007.

According to the REACH website:

The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced. The benefits of the REACH system will come gradually, as more and more substances are phased into REACH.

The REACH Regulation gives greater responsibility to industry to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances. Manufacturers and importers will be required to gather information on the properties of their chemical substances, which will allow their safe handling, and to register the information in a central database run by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki. The Agency will act as the central point in the REACH system: it will manage the databases necessary to operate the system, co-ordinate the in-depth evaluation of suspicious chemicals and run a public database in which consumers and professionals can find hazard information.

The Regulation also calls for the progressive substitution of the most dangerous chemicals when suitable alternatives have been identified.

People linked to REACH

• Ralf Burgstahler. According to a 2006 Greenpeace report on REACH, he "started in 1986 at the Product Safety unit of BASF, becoming EU Governmental Affairs Manager in 1998, first joined the REACH Unit of DG Enterprise and Industry in September 2001, and then moved to the German Ministry for Economic Affairs in 2004, where he is still in charge of REACH."
• Uta Jensen-Korte. According to a 2006 Greenpeace report on REACH, "After 14 years working for chemical company Bayer AG and seven years as a lobbyist for CEFIC, reaching the position of Director of Chemicals Policy & Regulatory Affairs, she recently moved to the REACH Unit of DG Enterprise and Industry.
• Anne Rose Lambers, according to a 2006 Greenpeace report on REACH, joined CEFIC as legal counsellor in January 2005. The report continued, "She was formerly the personal assistant of MEP Hartmut Nassauer, who embraced almost all industry proposals presented by CEFIC and VCI in his opinion on REACH for the Internal Market Committee and negotiated an appreciable weakening of the REACH proposal before the first plenary vote."
• Jean-Paul Mingasson is described in a 2006 Greenpeace report on REACH as "a very active and well-known player in the lobby campaign against REACH". The report says He "worked for over 20 years in the European Commission, where he served as Director-General of DG Enterprise and Industry from 2002 to 2004. Since October 2004, he has been working as General Adviser to the Union of Industrial and Employers’ Confederations of Europe (UNICE).
• Lena Perenius - CEFIC’s former director of the REACH Unit. She is described in a 2006 Greenpeace report on REACH as having "worked for six years in the Chemicals Unit of DG Enterprise and Industry before moving to CEFIC.

Resources

• Greenpeace, "Toxic Lobby: How the chemicals industry is trying to kill REACH," May 2006, accessed 13 March 2010.