According to Ana, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) says industry should start preparing for the next big REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and restriction of Chemicals) registration deadline. Companies manufacturing or importing chemicals in Europe—in quantities at or above 100 tons per year—are required to register such substances with ECHA by May 31, 2013.
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But there is a key deadline for May 31, 2012, in preparation: the late preregistration deadline before the 2013 registration deadline, for first-time manufacturers and importers. Please note that late preregistration is only allowed under specific circumstances.
Also, in December 2011, 20 new chemicals were added to the Candidate List of substances of very high concern (SVHC), now totaling 73. With REACH rolling out new SVHCs, companies need to notify ECHA of uses around the 20 new chemicals by June 2012.
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Inclusion of chemicals to the Candidate List will require your supply chain to have reported the SVHC. For example, Formaldehyde: You can find this substance almost everywhere in plastics (it’s a process chemical). But, it has not been reported consistently all along the supply chain by suppliers. Now with the inclusion of this substance to the Candidate List there is a mandatory need and requirement to get this reported (if above 0.1% w/w).