Quality

NEW RULES FOR THE USE OF CHEMICALS

You have undoubtedly already heard of REACH, the new European legislation designed to make the use of chemicals safe. This standard for the registration, evaluation and authorization of chemicals has already made a lot of noise in Europe, and we can well imagine you wondering, as end users of our products, what the implications of REACH might be for your company. That is why below we would like to present the main details of this new regulation.
Effective as of June 1, REACH has the ambition of ensuring the safety of humans and the environment in the production and use of chemicals. This legislation applies to all companies that manufacture, import, distribute or use chemical substances, preparations and formulations within the European Union. The principle of this new European regulation is that these companies must provide their customers and suppliers with information on substances and their use in order to make their use safe.
For this they must:

know all the risks associated with these substances
establish measures to circumscribe the risks
apply these measures internally
REACH therefore places the responsibility for managing chemical-related risks on the shoulders of companies. Within this framework, a computer system has been structured in which manufacturers and importers must register all the substances they produce or market in the EU. This registration is mandatory if the amount of substance placed on the market by the enterprise exceeds 1 ton per year.

The entry into force of REACH on June 1, 2007 does not mean that there is already a lot of data available today and that the end user in practice is directly affected by this regulation because the registration of these chemicals takes a relatively large amount of time. The process is to be completed in 2018, according to a timetable that has already been set (see table). The period running until December 1, 2008 has been designated as a transitional phase during which producers and

Importers must pre-register substances subject to registration. This pre-registration (which effectively translates into a company’s notification of its intention to register a particular substance) will serve as the basis for the formation of groups of companies all having the same chemical substance pre-registered. Companies will then be able to apply for a common registration, which will avoid doing the same considerable amount of work several times.

CONSEQUENCES FOR THE END USER

You have undoubtedly realized by now that all these procedures will certainly involve quite a few additional costs. According to recent estimates, registration of a substance used in an annual quantity between 1 and 10 tons will cost around 15,000 euros, and in this case only a reduced registration is required. For substances processed in significantly higher quantities, the cost of registration may amount to no less than 325,000 euros, as much more detail, testing and information are required to complete this type of registration.
It is precisely this high cost that will bring consequences to the end user. More precisely, it is expected that a whole range of chemicals will disappear from the market and that a certain part of them will have to be reformulated from scratch.
In addition, due to the introduction of REACH, it will not be possible to avoid the rising prices, throughout Europe, of all chemical products.
We will, certainly, keep you informed in good time of any changes made to the formulations as well as of any necessary price increases resulting from them.
While waiting, what should you do ? For the time being, we recommend that all you do is make a list of all the chemicals you use, with details of how you apply them, and one of the suppliers from whom you source. At the moment it is important to know whether all the raw materials underlying your products are pre-registered. Rumors seem to confirm that all substances in use must be pre-registered but that all suppliers have not yet confirmed this in writing. Of course, as soon as things become clearer, we will keep you duly informed.
On the subject you can consult the following site of the European Union :

www.echa.europa.eu

ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/reach/reach_intro.htm

MASCHERPA and REACH

Mascherpa is considered an end-user, just like you.
We are in constant contact with our Representative Houses to detect in time the possible withdrawal of certain substances from the market and, when everything is more defined, we will promptly inform you about the developments reached.
When registering a substance, its method of use must also be declared : this therefore includes the registration of the use by the manufacturer as Mascherpa’s supplier, but also yours as our end-user customer. For REACH, end user is the one who opens the closed package containing the product.

For our END CUSTOMERS.

Before the registration period (see table), we will ask you for information and briefings on the ways you use the products we supply according to a scheme that is being issued by ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency. Mascherpa will ensure that your type of product use is included in the substance registration so that the continuation of your production processes can be guaranteed in the future.

For our RESELLERS

At Mascherpa’s request, our dealers are responsible for transmitting the following information :

to Mascherpa the list of the methods of use of the products by their customers.
Mascherpa will take charge of having the Manufacturers make the registration for their products marketed by us
to their customers the data for the safe use of each chemical product sold to them to be transmitted in the form of an annex to the relevant MSDS.
This annex will be made available by
of Mascherpa to retailers who request it
and for the products marketed by them
We are at your disposal for any further information, please contact us at reach@mascherpa.itfo