European chemicals strategy (REACH)


The European Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals Regulation (REACH) is designed to ensure chemicals are properly tested before going onto the market. It places the burden of proof on employers to demonstrate that a chemical can be used safely. 


Every chemical used, from the initial raw materials to the manufacturing of a product, must be registered with up-to-date, comprehensive and publicly-available information about its impacts on health and safety. All businesses in Europe that manufacture or import more than one tonne of any given substance each year are responsible for registering information about that substance with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helskinki, Finland (https://echa.europa.eu). 


Everyone in the supply chain must ensure the safety of the chemical substances they handle. 
REACH affects manufacturers, importers, suppliers and distributors of chemicals, substances and articles containing substances, as well as “downstream users” — businesses that use chemicals in the course of their activities. The HSE says that this probably includes most businesses in some way.


Manufacturers and importers are responsible for preparing Safety Data Sheets and for including them when supplying substances in order to provide the supply chain and downstream users with appropriate safety information (see below). REACH Registration was phased in over ten years, with 31 May 2018 (REACH Registration 2018) being the final registration deadline for substances manufactured or imported in quantities of one tonne or more per year. The HSE warned companies ahead of the deadline: “If you do not register your substances, then the data on them will not be available and as a result, you will no longer be able to manufacture or supply them legally, i.e. no data, no market!”.


Registration can lead to restrictions on the manufacture, supply or use of a substance and one of the main aims of authorisation is to phase out the use of substances of very high concern (such as cancer-causing substances or carcinogens). 


With the UK due to leave the European Union in less than a year, the safety campaign group Alliance for Cancer Prevention (ACP) is one of many organisations lobbying the government to keep the UK within the REACH regime post-Brexit. 


“While not perfect, it is regarded as gold standard regulation throughout the world and has at its heart the core aims of protecting human and animal health, and ‘the precautionary principle’ which means to take action to prevent harm, even in the face of uncertainty,” it says.