REACH: Europe gets new chemicals legislation

After many years of at times very heated debate, a political agreement on the REACH Regulation was reached at the EU Competitiveness Council on 13 December 2005. Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel sees this agreement as a "good and well-balanced compromise" between environmental and consumer protection on the one hand and the competitiveness of the chemical industry on the other.

REACH fundamentally restructures European chemicals policy. The acronym stands for registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals. REACH is intended to ensure the systematic gathering of information about the hazardous properties of chemicals, particularly of the so-called existing substances. At the same time, responsibility for substance evaluations and the appropriate risk management is in principle transferred to the industry. Particularly hazardous substances are subject to an authorisation system under which it is also obligatory to check if suitable substitutes are available. Furthermore, REACH provides for mandatory data sharing in order to prevent the duplication of animal testing.

Gabriel: "To enable REACH to be implemented soon, it is essential to quickly finalise the legislative procedure in the second reading. Moreover, we have to create the necessary conditions to make the Agency operational. Ultimately, REACH will only be successful with a well-functioning Agency."