Firms Register Chemicals Under REACH

PARIS — More than 2.2 million companies — including beauty firms — that manufacture chemicals in or import chemicals to Europe and the European Economic Area countries, including Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, preregistered the substances by midnight Dec. 1 under REACH, the Registration, Evaluation and Authorization Chemicals regulations, a landmark chemicals law.

The firms were given six months to preregister the chemicals, which ended up covering more than 100,000 substances, according to the European Chemicals Agency, of Helsinki. Half of the companies’ submissions came during the last three weeks.

“Companies that have failed to preregister cannot continue manufacturing or importing their substance until they have submitted a full registration dossier,” stated ECHA. ECHA will publish a list of preregistered substances on Jan. 1. Following that, the next step for preregistered companies is to begin sharing data in Substance Information Exchange Forums.

“Companies starting to manufacture or import a substance at or above 1 ton per year after Dec. 1 for the first time can benefit from late preregistration provisions,” stated ECHA. REACH came into force in June 2007 and focuses on the making and usage of chemicals and their possible influence on human health and the environment.