~dREACH Update
~tMember States scrutinise RoHS-REACH overlap
~w2009-10-06
MemberState officials examining the proposed redraft of the Directive on the restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic equipment are examining closely industry's belief that legal uncertainty and unnecessary bureaucracy would result from some of its provisions.Article 4(7) of the proposal says that proposals for extending the Directive's list of prohibited substances should be assessed using a new methodology “based on” the process under REACH for introducing restrictions on substances. Proposals would be considered by a regulatory committee of MemberState representatives that would be separate from the similar committee that will assess restriction proposals under REACH. Earlier in the year, European engineering industries association ORGALIME called for the removal of the provisions from the RoHS recast proposal and said a provision should be added stating that as long as the use of a substance is authorised under REACH, such equipment would be considered to be compliant with the RoHS Directive.The RoHS recast dossier is currently being discussed by a working group of the Committee of Member State permanent representatives to the Council (COREPER). At a recent meeting, one MemberState presented a non-paper on the issue.Given that REACH allows the Commission or a MemberState to put forward restriction proposals that may include restrictions on the use of a substance in electrical or electronic equipment, the paper asks what is the additional value of RoHS?The answer could lie, it suggests, in the fact that whereas REACH limits the scope for restrictions to substances that pose an unacceptable health or environmental risk, RoHS also permits restrictions that contribute to “the sound disposal” of waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Instead of article 4(7), it might be more appropriate to develop RoHS as a means solely to protect waste streams against hazardous substances even if those substances do not pose unacceptable health or environmental risks. The Directive could "aim to achieve a reduction in the content of hazardous substances in such equipment, taking their recycling and treatment into account". This would justify a reference to the Candidate List or substances listed in annex XIV of REACH, which contains substances that fall under the authorisation regime.Similarly, the RoHS recast proposal's conditions for granting exemptions to substance bans differ from the conditions for granting an authorisation under REACH. In particular the RoHS recast includes new criteria that would permit an exemption if the availability and reliability of substitutes were not ensured. This overlap could “easily lead to legal inconsistencies and could encourage “forum shopping” by industry.Another difference lies in the way threshold values are applied to electrical and electronic equipment under RoHS and the way they are applied to articles under the REACH Regulation. Under REACH such limits apply to the entire object, whereas under RoHS a threshold could apply to a component or inseparable homogeneous part. Furthermore, the paper raises the question on whether it would be right to use the resources of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), as stated in the explanatory memorandum to the RoHS redraft proposal, to help develop the methodology for restricting substances under the Directive. Such activity is not part of ECHA's work programme, which is mostly financed by fees from registrants, nor would the decision making take place within the REACH regulatory committee.
Chemical Watch, 17 September 2009
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~dREACH Update
~tGuidance in 22 languages now available on REACH
~w2009-10-06
ECHA has published guidance on information requirements, chemical safetyassessment, substances in articles, registration, and downstream user obligations ina further 21 EU languages. These documents provide essential information tomanufacturers and importers of chemicals as well as users of chemicals andproducers of articles (end-user goods) on how to comply with REACH legislation. TheEnglish language versions of the six documents were published earlier.The guidance documents below are now available in the following 22 languages: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek,Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.
These translations will be validated by the Competent Authorities of the Member States usingthese languages. Whenever such validation is received from a MemberState, thecorresponding translation will be revised to reflect this validation. The following translateddocuments are available from the relevant language version of the guidance section of theECHA website.
INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS AND CHEMICAL SAFETY ASSESSMENT
• Part A: Introduction to the Guidance Document provides an introduction to the guidance for conducting the chemical safetyassessment and preparing the chemical safety report for substances manufactured orimported in a quantity of 10 tonnes or more per year.
• Part D: ExposureScenarioBuilding details how to develop exposure scenarios and related exposure estimation.
• Chapter R12: Use Descriptor Systemgives a brief general description of identified uses and how to give exposurescenarios a short title.
GUIDANCE ON REQUIREMENTS FOR SUBSTANCES IN ARTICLES
This document assists producers and importers of articles in identifying whether they haveobligations under REACH.
GUIDANCE ON REGISTRATION
This document describes when and how to register a substance under REACH. It consists oftwo parts: one on Registration tasks and obligations and the other on the preparation of theRegistration Dossier.
GUIDANCE FOR DOWNSTREAM USERS – LINGUISTIC UPDATE PUBLISHED IN THE INTERNET
This document describes the roles and obligations of downstream users, and advises themon how to prepare for the implementation for REACH.
ECHA, 24 September 2009
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~dREACH Update
~tCEFIC fears 2010 REACH failures will affect industry credibility
~w2009-10-06
The retiring director-general of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC) Alain Perroy told its AGM recently that he was concerned that despite the efforts of private sector bodies, companies risk not being ready for the 2010 REACH registration deadline and that this could negatively impact the whole industry's image. He called on the European Commission and European Chemicals Agency to do more." He observed: “We are doing more than foreseen by legislation, helping our companies and other industries with technical and legal support. We are backing ECHA as much as we can to sort out the difficult SIEF issue, but there are limitations to what can be achieved by private organisations when guidance and support related to the regulation is insufficient."
Chemical Watch, 5 October 2009
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