7 Potholes along the REACH road to global supply chains

By A.J. Guikema

The European Union's REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) Regulation is having profound effects on global supply chains, extending the impact of REACH far beyond the European Union.

Some of these effects are unintended. Others are perhaps successful consequences of the European Union's efforts to control the types of chemical hazards to which its people and environment are exposed.

The following REACH impacts illustrate the influence this massive piece of legislation has wrought on our interdependent, global economy with its complex supply chains.

Manufacturers and importers are now responsible for their products' environmental footprints for entire product life cycle
REACH is a major catalyst forcing a sea of change in environmental responsibility. In the past, governments and consumers bore a substantial burden of proof for identifying chemical hazards. REACH changes the equation worldwide with the burden of proof shifting to manufacturers and importers to demonstrate their products are safe before they are placed upon the market.

Suppliers are now expected to provide chemical content information to manufacturers and importers
In order to identify chemical hazards, manufacturers and importers must know what chemicals are actually in their products. If manufacturers want to avoid costly testing, the primary way of doing this is to require chemical content disclosure from their suppliers. While there are issues with the need to keep some information confidential, the expectation is now developing in global supply chains that suppliers will share chemical content information with their manufacturing and importing customers.

Greater need to understand toxicological behavior of chemical substances in products
Because REACH will require industry to gather some type of hazard and risk information for approximately 30,000 substances, global industry now is faced with a need to better understand the toxicological behavior of the chemicals in products.

Prior to the advent of REACH, proactive risk assessments were not required and were rarely undertaken for most products. REACH has increased the need for in-house expertise in order for companies to evaluate the hazards associated with their products, and the risks involved with their customers' uses of those products.

Increased chemical disclosure requirements for articles manufacturers and importers
Manufacturers and importers are accustomed to providing safety information in the form of Material Safety Data Sheets MSDS) for materials which may contain hazards substances. REACH is broadly extending that mandate to require a certain level of disclosure, even for articles, which generally did not require any type of chemical content disclosures in the past, as it was assumed substances in articles did not pose significant risks since substances in articles were not exposed to humans or the environment.

Article 33 of the REACH regulation essentially requires companies to know about the presence of any Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) in their articles and to communicate this to customers.