The European Parliament has finally backed a deal, reached with EU Governments, on the wide-ranging legislation to control the use of toxic chemicals in industry. The system for registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals (REACH) will come into force in mid-2007 and is designed to make firms prove the many chemicals they use in everyday products like cars, computers, clothes, paint and mobile phones are safe. The legislation is believed to be the largest in EU history, and has seen industry lock horns with environmentalists for years. Firms will need to provide lists of the chemicals they use along with the possible risks, meaning the properties of around 30,000 chemicals produced and imported in the EU will need to be registered with a central agency, based in Finland.
The register will initially focus on the most toxic chemicals, like carcinogens, and those produced in the largest quantities. These will require testing and authorisation to be used. Manufacturers will need to come up with plans to eventually replace such chemicals, but they will not be banned outright as environmentalists had hoped. Responding to the legislation, the UK Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has called on the Government to help small firms, saying that the cost of compliance would hit them "especially hard" as they were "least able to absorb costs or pass them on to their customers, unlike larger businesses."
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been appointed as the enforcing authority for REACH, and have set up a help desk offering advice to those still confused about how the provisions will affect them and their business.
