A group including the U.S. Department of Commerce and BDP International, a global logistics firm specializing in the chemical industry, will host a March 1st conference on new environmental and safety regulations for exporting chemicals and products containing chemicals to the 27 member states of the European Union.
The new policy, which is expected to go into effect on June 1, will impact a broad spectrum of U.S. companies and industry sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, cosmetics, cleaning products and many others.
The program is designed to educate exporters and trade specialists in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware area about this key policy and compliance with it. Approved in December of last year, the EU’s new REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals) system will regulate the import, manufacture, marketing and use of chemicals, and will affect a wide range of products, from electronics to apparel.
The European Commission indicated the REACH system will require some 30,000 chemicals currently on the market to be registered with a new European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) over an 11-year period.
The registration process will help regulatory authorities “fill information gaps on the hazards of substances and…identify appropriate risk management measures to ensure their safe use,” according to a statement issued by the commission. The REACH program also calls for additional evaluation of substances deemed to pose an elevated risk, as well as substitution of less hazardous alternatives to an estimated 1,600 substances considered to be harmful to human health or the environment.
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